Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Next Generation Workforce and Workplace

We help individuals, organizations, and communities think innovatively about the next generation workforce and workplace. Read these forward-thinking stories and best practices from our work and lives.

  • Experiences Over Stuff: The Better Rewards and Recognition Strategy

    Experiences Over Stuff: The Better Rewards and Recognition Strategy

    My 1st grader comes out of school most every day chomping on bubble gum. When I was a kid in school, gum at any grade level was strictly prohibited, so this peaked my interest.

    “Where and how did you get bubble gum?”  I asked one day when he got in the car.

    “I turned my penny in for it, my teacher gave it to me.” He said.

    Interesting.

    “How’d you get the penny?” I asked.

    “I helped clean up,” he said.

    I realized his teacher was using a method that is hot in HR now regarding employee rewards and recognition. Many systems allow bosses and peers to give employees points (i.e.- pennies) to cash in for things the employee (or first grader) desires.

    When I was in his class for open house a few weeks later, I realized that his teacher’s system is even more like the rewards and recognition tech systems on the market today.  You can save up your points (pennies) to earn bigger prizes. Four pennies gets you trip to the treasure box for a toy.

    My son never brings home a toy. He is still chomping away on bubble gum whenever I pick him up from school. Maybe he can’t ever earn more than one penny because he hasn’t done enough to be rewarded, but he is a child that gravitates towards instant gratification instead of the delayed variety.  As soon as he gets the penny, he cashes it in.

    And some of your employees may be like him, whereas others may hoard points or pennies for greater rewards.  Today’s tech-based rewards systems play to

    1. Personality and
    2. Personal preferences related to what “stuff” is most desired

    in an automated way.

    But this way still feels somewhat impersonal for some strange reason.

    The latest- and I think more interesting- trend in employee rewards and recognition revolves around experiences.  Because let’s face it, who really needs more stuff these days? We are flooded with stuff. And experiences are highly personal.

    I got a chance to see Blueboard in action at the #HRTechConf competing for the prize of the Next Great HR Tech Company.  They won my vote. They are reinventing the rewards and recognition space by focusing on a scalable and easy to use rewards system that gives away experiences not stuff.   

    And, wouldn’t you know, my 1st grader’s school is onto this trend too.  At their Fall Festival, many of the silent auction prizes were for experiences with different teachers at the school. Go get ice cream with Ms. Smith. Get to build a Lego farris wheel with Mrs. H. (aka- Lego Lady- we love her!).  

    You would guess correctly if you assumed that these door prizes had the highest bids placed. Forget the basket of actual Legos, parents know their kids would rather have an hour of Mrs. H’s undivided attention with the Legos.

    So I don’t know what came first- schools catching onto this motivational trend or companies. But, I’ll say, the experience of Vegas with my husband and the #HRTechConf with colleagues has been a much greater reward and motivator than the purse that I for a split second thought about buying while here. I’ll save my pennies for the next experience.

    What do you value more- stuff or experiences?

     

    Like this post?  You may also like:

    HR Santa Clauses Focus on the Employee Experience

    Tiny Homes, RVs and Millenials: What this all means to your employee benefit and engagement strategy

  • The Unattainable Work-Life Balance

    The Unattainable Work-Life Balance

    Is our elusive hunt for a work-life balance causing us undue stress in our lives and the lives of those around us?

    Generation X introduced the philosophy of the work-life balance in the 1970’s, and organizations and employees alike have spent the last few decades searching for that balance. But can anyone say they’ve found it?

    The major flaw with the work-life balance philosophy is that it’s based on the premise that your work self and your life self are two separate entities and to achieve balance, you must maintain that separation and seek a level of equality between the two.

    A study published in 2015 by the Harvard Business School and Stanford University showed that workplace stress can be just as harmful as second-hand smoke. If we’re bringing that stress home, imagine the impact it must have on our families.

    It took my thirteen-year-old son’s insight to show me that the struggle to achieve a work-life balance doesn’t just affect those trying to achieve it, it also affects everyone around them. About a year after moving to Huntsville from Northern Virginia I asked him if he was glad we moved. He told me that he was glad we moved and that his friends here were very different than his friends in Virginia. He explained how his friends here are more laid back, he could be more open with them without fear of them judging him, and how his friends from Northern Virginia were much more rigid and easily offended. His response both shocked me and made me realize just how much of an impact living in the rat race of the D.C. area had on my children.

    As the Indian Yogi and Poet Sadhguru said “There is no such thing as work-life balance- it is all life. The balance has to be within you.”

    The reality is that our work self and life self are two parts of the same whole and can never be fully separated. The Millennials have figured this out and taken the work-life balance philosophy and given it an overhaul. They have introduced us to the work-life integration philosophy. The work-life integration philosophy is a more synergistic approach, in which we must learn to blend our work self and life self into one cohesive unit.

    Many organizations are starting to buy into this concept and provide benefits to help employees integrate their work-life selves.

    • Evernote, a software company, provides their 250+ full-time employees with bi-weekly housecleaning services free of charge, $1000 annual vacation stipends, and a baby bonding program that provides an additional six weeks of paid leave.
    • SC Johnson & Son provides employees with concierge services, on-site childcare, flexible work hours & compressed work weeks.
    • Google provides on-site physicians, free lunches, massages, car washes, up to 12 weeks of paid leave, as well as $500 in “Baby Bonding Bucks” for new parents.

    While these examples are from larger companies, there are benefits that smaller employers can offer as well. I currently work with a client that offers their employees PTO hours in addition to vacation time. These hours are to be used for things such as doctor’s appointments, hair appointments, and parent-teacher conferences. They also provide a car wash service that comes onsite and employees can pay to have their car washed while they work.

    What benefits can your organization offer employees to help them achieve a work-life integration and reduce stress?

  • 4 Tech Solutions that help you Hire for Fit AND Diversity

    4 Tech Solutions that help you Hire for Fit AND Diversity

    Most people live in an “or” world.   Whether we like it or not, we think in terms of always having to choose between two or more options or paths, rather than thinking in terms of “and”.      

    I was reminded of this when hearing the CFO of Eli Lilly, Derica Rice, speak to a group of college students who have received scholarships he and his wife fund. He told them that he always thought in terms of “or”.  I can have this career “or” that, but not both.  I can have this life “or” this one, but not both.  But one day, he said, his wife told him that he had earned the right to live and think in an “and” world.   

    This is a powerful message to us all, particularly to the minority students he is seeking to help.  I’ve found that it is also helpful to extend his point in inspiring diversity to the need to hire for both diversity AND fit.  

    And technology can actually help live in an “and” world when it comes to hiring for diversity and fit instead of relying on human, subjective judgments.

    Here are four tech companies that are doing just this:

    BLENDOOR  Using technology, Blendoor hides data that’s not relevant (for example name, graduation year and photos) and highlights data that is in order to reduce unconscious bias.

    You can view a video that explains their merit based hiring here.

    TEXTIO– With a slogan that reads, “In hiring, every word counts,” Textio focuses on helping companies write the best job postings.   In doing this, better word choice leads to more applicants, and more diverse ones at that. In particular, the company touts a 23% increase in women applicants.

    This graphic on their website says it all.

     

     

    PYROMETRICS–  Founded by a Harvard and MIT PhD in a Neuroscience team,  the company uses gamification, machine learning & artificial intelligence and unbiased algorithms to match potential employees with employers.  

    You can request a whitepaper from them on gender equality related to the science they use at the bottom of this page.

    HireVue.  When I first heard about HireVue, I thought their key value proposition was to reduce recruiter time in hiring, in particular interviewing.  Upon learning more, I realized they are also helping to reduce bias in hiring by using data (according to their speaker at HRTech, a 15 minute interview generates more than 25,000 data points) to identify best-fit for companies.

    You can read more about how using their (and Pyrometric’s) artificial intelligence helped Unilever increase their diversity hires by 16% (among other positive outcomes) here.

    Choose to live in an “and” world and the possibilities for solving problems are endless.

     

    How do you kill two birds with one stone by thinking “and” instead of “or”?

     

    Like this post, you may also like:

    You can hire for fit AND diversity: How the most innovative companies hire right

    Diversity and Inclusion in My Eyes and in the Eyes of My Children 

    What is Diversity and Why Does It Matter? 

    3 Ways to Embrace Diversity and Inclusion in Career Development

    Creating Community in Your Organization 

  • 3 ways to embrace Diversity & Inclusion in Career Development

    3 ways to embrace Diversity & Inclusion in Career Development

    Working in career development, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to work with individuals from all over the U.S., and I occasionally have clients that live or have lived abroad. It is eye opening to see how different cultures and areas of the country approach career planning. Embracing diversity and inclusion is important for job seekers, employers and career practitioners.

    Here are 3 ways to embrace Diversity and Inclusion:

    1. Job Seekers – Seek out companies that are searching for candidates based on culture fit. You can often recognize these organizations because their culture is evident in their marketing, mission statement and by their selection process. Look for companies who offer realistic job previews and/or have applicants complete a pre-screening assessment; these are often predictors of organizations who prioritize diversity and inclusion.
    2. Employers – Employers should make diversity and inclusion a priority by ensuring employees and potential employees know they work to make sure the right people are in the right seats on the bus. They seek candidates who bring something to the table that others in the organization do not. This practice, in and of itself, will allow for diversity. In addition, companies who offer training in diversity and inclusion often prioritize the practice.
    3. Career Practitioners – In our work to help others find employment or make employment changes, we should be abreast of diversity and inclusion efforts. And, we should work to be inclusive of the clients and students we work with. In the Facilitating Career Development course we offer with Horizon Point, we discuss helping skills and their importance in working with individuals who are different than we are. Having knowledge of cultural diversity is also important; this is also a key component in Horizon Point’s course (NCDA approved). For more information or if you would like to register for the course, click here.

    For more information on Diversity and Inclusion in relation to Career Development, check out these articles:

    Building a Culture of Diversity and Inclusion in Career Services

    Creating a Culture of Diversity and Inclusion: Start with Small Wins

  • Laughter is the Best Gift You Can Give

    Laughter is the Best Gift You Can Give

    Returning home from the HR Tech Conference proved to be a challenge when it came to weighing our bags. One bag weighed too much.  How did this happen?  It wasn’t that way coming.

    It was all the swag from vendors!

    I was impressed by the vendors’ creativity in designing their gifts. I didn’t even have to buy a souvenir for my kids. I snagged a backpack for my son, nail polish (bright purple and pink, no less) for my daughter and a coloring book and colored pencils for them both.

    I got a monogrammed luggage tag for me, a personalized t-shirt that states “HR Llama Don’t Want No Drama” with a cool looking llama on it, two mini bottles of champagne, two cool water bottles and the customary hugger for my husband. Why he loves to collect those things, I don’t know.

    But, by far, the best gift was at the Globoforce booth. I like their mission and mindset anyway, so I was planning to stop by their booth regardless. But their marketing took the cake.

    Basically, the way their prize worked was that two young and lively staff members where there encouraging you to spin a large wheel. There was only one actual prize on the wheel which was a paid trip to the Work Human Conference. The rest were phrases that described things that could go on in a typical workplace. They asked me a series of engaging questions to get to know my workplace, then asked me to spin the wheel.

    I missed the conference trip by one tick, but what I got was an improv skit from the two staffers based on the information they got from me and where the wheel landed.  IT WAS HYSTERICAL!

    It was more memorable and a lot lighter (pun intended) than anything I took away from other vendors.   Which would lead me to use them before I used any other vendor in their space.

    Laughter really is the best gift.  Especially when it’s so on point with your mission to make the workplace more human.

    Kudos Globoforce.

     

    What do you do to make your workplace more human?