3 Reasons to Give and Take Extended Leave

Today I’ve been back at work for one week. Back at work after four weeks of extended personal leave. I could write a full-length novel about the why, how, who, and what of my semi-sabbatical experience. The short version is: every employer should give extended paid leave, and every employee should take it. I’ll give you three reasons. 1. We are People First.  People First is the single most important Horizon Point mantra. We live it and breathe it every day. That’s how we got here – this place in time where each of our team members is taking 4+

Gender Themes in Assessments: Are women really more organized than men?

At HPC, we facilitate assessments and coaching with leaders and potential leaders on a regular basis. We work with individuals from diverse backgrounds and with both males and females. Recently, we facilitated Work Behavior Inventory assessments with a group of organizational leaders. We noticed a trend in one component of the assessment – Conscientiousness. More often than not, males scored considerably lower in conscientiousness, which measures achievement, initiative, persistence, attention to detail, dependability, and rule-following. It is worth noting that most males were self-aware. This prompted our team to discuss the idea that maybe there are common gender trends in

The Volunteer Venn

Q: How many volunteers does it take to plan and host a statewide HR conference?  A: Whatever number you’re thinking, add 10 more!    Volunteers are absolutely critical to the success of all organizations, not-for-profit or otherwise, but they are often overlooked and undervalued. Knowing this to be true, why do we volunteer?  I am absolutely certain that I owe much of my professional (and personal) success to volunteerism. I have been equally – if not more – challenged, encouraged, and developed in volunteer roles in comparison with paid roles. Some of my most significant growth moments were from volunteer

Innovations in #CareerAdvice and Recruiting

Unemployment rates in Alabama are slowly falling and are on track to reach numbers from the pre-pandemic job boom. In the Huntsville/Madison area, there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. As a result of a volatile job market and the workplace changes in the last year, recruiters are working through some innovative ideas for 2021. Would you be surprised to learn that videos with the hashtag #careeradvice have reached over 80 million views since the start of 2021? TikTok has evolved into a recruiting marketplace, where job seekers and potential employers connect in a creative way.

Career Development as Performance Management

I recently had the opportunity to work with a young man whose employer was doing things right. He was engaged and eager to advance within the company. The employer reached out to HPC for guidance in talent development. They saw his drive to succeed and wanted to capitalize on that drive to develop his career within their company, and performance management was their go-to tool. We facilitated assessments, discussed results and goals & used our Leaders as Career Agents tool to develop an Individual Development Plan. With research showing us that approximately 70 percent of the workforce is currently disengaged,