Author Archives: Susan Avello

I’m on vacation, leave a message :)

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As you’re getting this post, I am in the sky flying to southern California for a weeks vacation. My husband and I have not had a vacation together in about 3 years or so. We usually take them separate because of our two dogs.

This time, we’ve decided to have a couple house and dog sit while we’re away. We need it like a dead man needs a coffin. (That’s a southern saying)

So, I have set up a few posts for while I’m away, but you’re on your own today.

Go have a fabulous weekend. I’ll catch ya on the flip-side.

Help! My Employees are playing GAMES at Work

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I recently wrote about Using Games, Sims and Virtual Worlds at Work that gave some pretty stiff stats on how many of your employees are playing games on their smartphones and computers at work.

With that being said, why not incorporate games into product development, employee engagement, and utilize technology to drive it home?

Here’s a little video I put together that gives a few great examples of using GAMES to create comraidere and engagement in the workplace.

What has your experience been when incorporating these types of EE tools at work? I’d love to know.

For more information on these companies: Wizard Studios and Go Game Office

Photo Credit: Above and Beyond KM

MILF’s (Mother’s I’d Like To Fire) in the Workplace

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Here is a great post from the archives – I think we’ve all dealt with these issues one way or another. Happy Mother’s Day!

I love the new show “Up All Night.” It is witty, relate-able, and down-right silly at times. This episode I watched was a humdinger and this is where the term MILF’s (Mothers I’d Like To FIRE) came from. A simple and creative play on words.

The premise of the show where Christina Applegate plays the assistant to a Talk Show host (Oprah wanna-be) and is a new mother herself who has gone back to work after maternity leave. Her attorney husband has taken leave from his job to be a stay-at-home dad.

The whole episode was about a new hire played by Molly Shannon, a single mom who was a walking disaster at everything she tried doing and who couldn’t get anything done at work because of her constant interruptions with her children. Christina Applegate’s character could not seem to find the balls to fire her, according to the talk show hosts’ wishes, because she too, was a mother dealing with these same issues.

We’ve all dealt with these kinds of employees or been in this position ourselves, where we’ve had to take time off for taking care of our children whether they were ill, taking them to Doctor appointments, the babysitter wigged out on us or whatever. It can be very disrupting to the workplace. Sometimes employees just can’t get a handle on these things and make it work. They quickly become MILF’s.

I’ve seen it and I’m sure you’ve seen it. It ultimately ends badly just as I explained in this previous post: Balancing Work and Family: Oh Pshaw! In the post I share how when I went on maternity leave I received a call from my boss on a conference call with all the other managers and even the President of the Company telling me “I could come back to work, but not in my same position.” I was being demoted. I felt penalized for taking time off to have my kid.

A new Census report shows that even in our 21st Century, some women STILL don’t even have access to paid maternity leave.

Some 51% of working women who had their first birth between 2006 and 2008 received paid leave (either maternity leave, sick leave or vacation). That’s up slightly from 49% between 2001 and 2005 and from just 42% between 1996 and 2000, the Census study found.

Okay, so about 42% of women did have access to unpaid maternity leave.

The likelihood that women will be able to take paid time off to have children varies dramatically with age, education and hours worked. Only 24% of women under age 22 took paid leave compared with 61% of women 25 and older. Full-time workers (56%) were more likely to use paid-leave benefits than part-time workers (21%), and college graduates were more likely to take maternity leave than those with less education.

So, what about the recession? Some companies are cutting back on paid family leave and many employees are losing access to paid leave altogether due to layoffs.

The Census report, which can be found here, also found that:

• About 22% of first time mothers quit their jobs – 16% while they were pregnant and another 6% by 12 weeks after their child’s birth.

• Eight out of 10 mothers who worked during their pregnancy returned to work within a year of their child’s birth to the same employer. About seven out of 10 of these women returned to a job at the same pay, skill level and hours worked per week.

• Some 82% of working women worked within a month of their child’s birth, compared to 73% 20 years ago.

OH, and we haven’t even discussed breastfeeding accommodations – ugh!

So how have you handled these kinds of MILF’s in your world? Or how you turned them into MILF’s of another kind (Mothers I’d Like to Mentor). I’d love to hear.

HR Through a 5 Year-Olds Eyes

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Today’s Guest Post is from Buzz Rooney. She’s one of my favorite guests. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago, my daughter got sick at school and I had to pick her up early. I had deadlines and meetings so I brought her back to the office with me and let her rest on the cushy chairs in my office while I handled things. We left around 5:30 to pick up her brother from his karate lesson. My daughter let him know that she’d spent the afternoon in my office while I did “grown-up HR work.” My son was excited and envious; he asked his sister what I did all day with my “work.”

Her response surprised me …

“Her work was really boring. She sat at her table and typed on her computer and talked on her phone most of the time. She printed stuff and made copies of it in this big machine too. Then she went to another room with some people and they sat around a big table, talking about grown-up stuff. They didn’t look like they were having fun at all!”

Seeing HR through my 5 year-olds eyes was eye-opening for me. I thought my kids would think my job was so cool because I had my own, spacious office with a nice view. Everything was organized and I worked at a steady pace without a lot of fanfare or noise. I thought they would think I was living the dream!

But they didn’t. They thought I was a geek and a bit of a loser.

It occurred to me that my children probably aren’t the only ones who think my job is wack. There are employees and other managers in organizations all over who see HR this way: boring, paper pushers who rarely leave their desk or conference room table to have any real impact or understanding! And the HR people in those organizations think they are living the dream when they are really stuck in a nightmare.

So how can HR change this view?

Leave your office. No one can effectively manage from behind a desk. This includes HR! We have to visit the areas where the work is performed and where the employees are located to see, hear and learn about what is going on. Leaving the door open to your office isn’t the same as being open, available and accessible. Get out there and talk to people.

Talk HR up. HR doesn’t do a very good job at tooting its own horn. We also don’t do a good job at illustrating why our ideas and initiatives matter to the bottom line of the organization. We have to do a better job of making this connection and highlighting it for others.

Have more fun. Being serious about your work doesn’t mean you have to be serious all the time. There are tons of ironies, fodder and laughable moments happening every day in the places where we work. Smile, laugh and make a joke once in awhile. You’ll feel better – and so will the people around you.

And the next time you bring a 5 year old to spend the afternoon in your office, have some candy available. And unicorns. Preferably pink ones.

Photo Credit: EarlyBirdStitcher

Today’s Guest Post was by my friend and online Blogger – Buzz Rooney. Make sure you connect with her.

Who is Buzz Rooney?

Buzz Rooney is a practicing HR Professional with over 10 years experience in the production, manufacturing and retail industries. She currently works for a large retail franchise handling employee relations, health benefits, COBRA, wellness, leave of absence and compliance. Buzz has Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies with a focus on Organizational Communication and Leadership as well as a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management. She is also a part-time HR consultant offering basic management coaching/training, process improvement, resume writing, compliance assistance and human resources generalist services. When not working or writing or researching, Buzz is a single mom with 2 young children living in North Carolina. She enjoys mindlessly watching television, spending time with friends and family, reading, eating and sleeping.

Read more of her writings, connect and contact her through her website, The Buzz on HR and follow her on Twitter @TheBuzzOnHR.

#IHRIMConf Wrap-Up, Travels with @SabrinaLBaker, and #FollowFriday

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So, as you can tell by all my posts this week, I’ve been attending the IHRIM HR Technology Conference and Expo in Chicago. I was asked to be a part of the social media press corp and blog LIVE from the conference. I was honored.

Sabrina Baker and I headed out at the crack of someone on Tuesday around 5:30 am to catch a train to the city (It’s about an hour and a half train ride). She and I always have a blast when we hang and try not to get into too much trouble, though I was wondering if we might – when we hopped on the silent train by mistake. That was hell for both of us.

We wanted to make sure we were there for the opening session with Jamie Notter who did an outstanding job as opening keynote. See my post HERE! The conference went on to of course add several break-out sessions in which my cohorts Sabrina Baker, Dwayne Lay and I all headed to so we could tweet, blog and share throughout our extended online presence. My first session was regarding Gamification at Work by Scott Randall of BrandGames and I had it marked on on my schedule on my mobile app. Read more about that HERE!

And while I’m at it may I say that the mobile conference app was the shizzle! (See pic above) In association with TripBuilder app designers – this app was easy to navigate, had amazing features such as notes that you could save in your session files and go back to at a later time, manage your way around the hotel, connect with other attendees, find your vendors in the exhibit hall and the whole shabang! I’m looking into finding out more about TripBuilder for Illinois SHRM State Conference. Easy is good. And when you mix easy with highly functional you have – #Winning.

We had a great time walking around to the exhibitors booths and had fun holding video interviews with a few of them. I also had the privilege of interviewing Marc Miller, the author of Heroic HR. Come on over to YOUTUBE and see those. Oh, and while you’re there – subscribe if you’d like!

Lastly, it’s always great when you can meet your online connections IRL (In Real Life) and take that relationship to another level as I was honored to do with my friend and Twitter connections Deb Maher, Narcisco, and Bonnie Clark, to name a few. These folks are simply superb. #FF (make sure you follow them)

All in all, it was a great conference and I’m glad I was able to be a part!

Video Interview with Jamie Notter – Keynote for #IHRIMConf and book Author of “Humanize”

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Hey all, I’m still here in Chicago hanging at the IHRIM Technology Conference and yesterday’s keynote was amazing. Jamie Notter is the author of the book “Humanize” and gave a great keynote titled “Unlocking the Power of Human Organizations.” How people-centric organizations succeed in a social world.

Jamie was so kind to do a video interview with me on a few key takeaways. Take a looksie -

And a little tidbit, Jamie and I were discussing a few mutual folks we admire and he just happened to mention how much he loves the amazing duo of Joe Gerstandt and Jason Lauritsen. But then again, who doesn’t?

Connect with Jamie Notter on Twitter  and go on over to HumanizeBook.com to get the book. I can’t wait to read it, myself.

Using Games, Sims and Virtual Worlds – at Work #IHRIMConf

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As you all may know, I’m in Chicago blogging and taking part in the IHRIM HR Technology Conference. I just finished sitting in on an incredible session with CEO Scott Randall, of BrandGames, who is taking gamification to a whole new level. The title of the session was “Games, Sims, and Virtual Worlds – Engaging the next generation workforce.” Using gamification to drive engagement in the workplace. I’ll all about this.

Randall began by telling us all something that we already knew and that being that we are all overworked, over-messaged, and under-engaged at work. We are overwhelmed. Utilizing technology at work is critical if we are to evolve – especially with the techies who grew up on games. “These kids that grew up on SIMS and other games are our current workforce who are expecting to use technology EVERY DAY at work” says Randall. “And we need to be changing with technology in order to keep them engaged and keep our communication methods going forward in a technological world.”

A few stats on gaming:

  • 135 million consumers play at least one hour of video games a month, vs. 56 million in 2008.
  • 75% of US tablet owners play games on their devices, 57% of smart phone owners also play games.
  • 3 billion hours of game play a week are going on, with $60 billion in game sales

Where is this game play happening? – 40% are playing games at work. (Saatchi Gaming Study)

Here is my video interview with Randall after his session:

Randall makes a valid point. If our employees are already participating in games at work, why aren’t we using this same strategy to train and engage our employees?

It is predicted that during 2012 20% of Global 2000 organizations will deploy a gamified application. By 2014 the number will rise to 70%. Those are outrageous stats, IMHO.

Understanding how to apply game mechanics is critical to increase engagement with customers and employees and to motivate positive behavioral changes – and is critical to our success.

Check out BrandGames and find out how you can incorporate gaming into your engagement and training initiatives.

Photo Credit: Gigaom.com

IHRIM2012 Strategies and Technology Conference – LIVE onsite!

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Tomorrow, Sabrina Baker and I, will be heading to the city to attend the IHRIM2012 Strategy and Technology Conference at the Chicago Hilton. We are attending as part of the press team. She will be LIVE blogging over at HR Chatterbox, and I will of course be LIVE blogging from the conference sessions over here at the Cafe. Follow the Twitter stream at #IHRIMConf or #IHRIM.

More here -

Stay tuned online, for some great info coming your way~

#Follow Friday – Buzz Rooney, LIVE and in Person!

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I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Buzz Rooney this week and talk a little about her “Coming Out” (so to speak), about her blog and her online journey, and about some really cool HR Conferences (including ILSHRM12). Check it out!

Connect with Buzz Rooney: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+