Open the Door and Expose Toxic Workplace Cultures

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of attending NASHRM’S 2024 Spring Workshop supporting my team member Lorrie Coffey. She gave an energizing presentation on Handling Toxicity in the Workplace, complete with getting knocked upside the head with a Horizon Point lightbulb stress ball. So, what does a toxic workplace look like? Let’s open the door and expose toxic workplace cultures. Lorrie started off by giving the definition of toxic and said that it’s an extremely harsh, malicious or harmful quality. She went on to give examples from social media of people talking about their current workplaces. One employee said,

Live from #ALSHRM21: Does Your Company Culture Attract Your Ideal Candidate?

The theme of the Alabama SHRM Conference and Expo for 2021 is “Embracing the Human in Human Resources” and organizational culture is a huge part of that goal. Craig Ellis, co-founder of our sister company MatchFIT, defined culture as “the unique way employers approach business and the unique way employees approach work” in his presentation Is Your Culture Attractive: What the Data Says Job Seekers are Looking for in an Organization’s Culture. According to Craig, 75% of candidates ask about an organization’s culture during the interview process. Unfortunately, the response too often given is a singular response. It’s the interviewer’s

Creating a Teaching Culture

My twelve-year-old son had his first experience with interviewing this week. He is applying to a special program for high school and as part of the application process he had to participate in a panel interview with members of the program administration. Naturally, he was nervous. Luckily the interview was scheduled on very short notice so he didn’t have too much time to overthink it. As I sat in the waiting area with him and his best friend before their interviews, I put on my recruiter hat and gave them some basic interviewing advice. They were both very receptive to

What Does Your Candidate Experience Say About Company Culture?

I follow a number of HR groups online. It’s a great way to expand my HR knowledge, see how different companies manage their HR functions, as well as to share my own knowledge and experiences with others. Recently, while scanning through one Facebook group, I came upon a question that stood out. “Do you think it’s ok that managers are consistently late for interviews and leave candidates waiting for 15-20 minutes?” Reading through the comments, many respondents addressed the base issue- No, you shouldn’t make a habit of being late for interviews. But none addressed the impact that doing so

What does Culture have to do with a Job Fair?

A friend of mine once shared with me a story of leaving a job to pursue one that seemed like a great opportunity. Soon after taking the new job, she discovered the culture was a nightmare. The company owner had terrible temper and was not necessarily following appropriate guidelines for the business they were in. Needless to say, it was not a culture fit for her and she moved on to find another job. When determining your next career move, culture should definitely be a considering factor. In the next few weeks, we will be talking about culture on The