What to study? What to study?!

"You will never make it to the top, if you do not study. Or do you ever wanna get to the top"

I kind of have heard those sentences a little too often if you ask me.
Technically I already have studied and, honestly, I am quite fed up with so many people not understanding the value behind the apprenticeship I was allowed to enjoy.
So anyways. I take the signs I get and find out myself if the sign seriously fit in my plans.

As HR chick, I should consider three main programms: Business Admin, Int'l Business Communications or Psychology.
Now I have always been into Psychology. But I also remember all the teachers I had back at school who had studied psychology...and quite frankly, they were creepy to me. Yes, I am kind of blocked about this.
I also checked the programm curriculum from Int'l Business Communications and I found it to be a written déjàvu...just that the price for it would be quite a menace raging in my wallet. So technically not worth it. And Business Admin....thanks, but no thanks...it couldnt be more years of administration being crammed but not applied.
Since I am more the type that sees more value in work-experience than in degrees I am not really able to see a winning point for myself from studying as of now. Considering me handling a household on my own and my personal doll-monster depending on me just pulls me more away from the idea of studying.

So all in all. I actually feel contradicting my motto and attitude towards judging qualities, especially mine.
What to study?! How about work life right now.

If so however, I probably will pick Int'l Business Communication before I will open up a vocational college in 20 years....maybe.

Aloha,
Nan

Sick Leave making you sick

Since my family is German-American I every now and then get to talk to an aunt.
The other day she told me she couldn't take days off since she had to use vacation-days for her sick leave. As German and especially as worker in Germany I wasn't much surprised about how the labor market in the US is handling such subject. However, I have to admit I was kind of disappointed that nothing has changed much.
In Germany, by law you will get paid the first 42 days sick by your employer. After that ones Medical Insurance is paying a certain percentage of the workers gros.

See the U.S. Department of Labour stated on its website:

"Sick Leave
Currently, there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave. For companies subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Act does require unpaid sick leave. FMLA provides for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain medical situations for either the employee or a member of the employee's immediate family. In many instances paid leave may be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave.Employees are eligible to take FMLA leave if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, and have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles."

It couldn't be more complicated and actually more unfair for workers from smaller companies. And it could not be easier for employers to avoid having to pay for sick leave all along...

Vacation days should not be wasted for sick leave...vacation is vacation and not sickation. Certainly, a sick leave can make you even more sick (of it) in this case.. 

 

aloha

No time for "bitchassness" or how to deal with the Shens in our (work) life

Since most companies do not hold employees of the ages 16-24 - and no, even Hollister does not - one should expect as HR-er and co-worker in general that within a company of grown ups there would not be any "he-said-she-said" nor "bitchassness" as Sean Combs aka Diddy (expiration date of this artist name tbd) created a noun for a bad attitude.

So while most people concerned with this matter might have dug up some books on amazon I have learned the very lesson myself with co-workers as well and am fairly ready to give some advise.
As my mom would always say, first of all, stay cool, man!
Yer, she is kind of cool - btw, if you have any questions on how to handle state departments via mail, she is your woman to go to ;)

When I was younger i was not, instead I, as employee, allowed it to make others kind of reign over me, especially in regard to the workload I was given, and boy, they sure kept giving. But also emotionally. In the end I found myself suffering from migraene like headaches with the weirdest symptoms for months.
Still having my head in work and thinking of what my supervisor and co-workers think of me I got forced to take a time out. I became a Diddys Dirty Moneys music junkie then.
Funnily, listening to the tunes that are all about heartbrake and co I figured my pain might stop if I put up a wall (which believe me is kinda hard to do at work) or you give up on trying to comfort them and start with YOURself.
As of now, after having read several books such as Zero Limits by Joe Vitales and Ihaleakala Hew Len I am conciously aware of the fact that my problems will only change if I change my own attitude towards the problem.

Oooh how philosophic..booooooooooooring...
I know, but let it melt on your minds' tongue please.

In the meantime, while you're angry at your co-worker or even  former co-worker who is rudely trying to cut you from the side still..or back..here is (in German) how Po the Kung Fu Panda deals with bitchassness thrown at him:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rleb6Hgh978" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Btw, that peacock named Shen is a perfect symbole for intrigues and a psychological disaster gone mad.

Jokes aside.
So what do you do as HR-er again when you have this kind of mess going on within a group of employees?
Well legally you can warn or fire one or both of them involved, which is very much a reaction out of rage more than it should be out of teaching. As my teacher in college used to say "leading is steering".
Basically, the key solution is appreciation, confrontation, compassion, forgiveness in this very order. Trigger this within the participating parties and the arguement will dissolute.
But hold on, some are just innocent you might claim. Sometimes confrontation is meant as confrontation with the bare truth of reasons. Why does this person react and act this way to you and to the other different. The understanding of it all helps the process as it is with everything human beings have to learn.

Regarding my situation back then. I had decided to pull through with it by staying tough. I understood the possible reasons the co-workers were having to behave the way they did and forgave them as I knew I would not have to deal with it forever and as that that period of time was only that - a period of time.
Happiness is a choice, it is said..there is no time for bitchassness.


thank, forgive, love


aloha

Too much for Gen Y

Today the new Handelsblatt Karriere layed on my desk at work.
I actually love to read HR-Magazines. Especially the big debate about Gen Y. Considering my boss, a member of the Gen X btw, is very much into such topic, I always get the smirking on when reading about it.

I am belonging to the so called Gen Y. Most one has to read is right. I do not intent to make a career of the classic kind either...I also value my family life more than my work. BUT I still am a fulltime HR - meaning I think of my applicants and the ToDo's at work while I cook, clean and cast smiles in my daughters face.
BUT, I intent on making career differently.
(Actually I plan on being a School Head on day - weird as it sounds, but I kind of grow on this idea every day a little more. Dont judge me lol)
Anyways, I read the article "Karriere? Ja, ...aber anders" ("Career? Yes, but different"), talking about how the attitute of Gen Y regarding leadership has switched to a thank-you-but-no-thank-you-way as they have grown tired from hierarchic chain of commands Gen X was still used to.
It most likely all turned into the question passion for your subject or passion to lead, since both became a riddle, although googillions of generations before us were doing just fine having both tasks - doing the job your learned and leading a team.
Gen Y, however, decided to take the long fought for freedom to choose freetime and family over work without having to sacrifice incredibly much but nerves...and who does not have to sacrifice those from time to time, let it be private or job wise.
The article put up some statistics from the institution named ULA also which says that 51 per cent of 1000 survey-participants claim that "too many power games" coming after the great spenditure of time as #1 reason to deny a role as leader.

Nelson Taapken was quoted, saying this generation suffers under enormous workload. Now really, do we though?
Yes, the pressure is quite "enormous". The market has not become less competetive since it is working more globalized than ever. And yes, according to a study from Stepstone 30-50 % of employees suffer from Burn Out Syndrome at some point during their career.

So in conclusion of this article: Everything is too much for Gen Y.

Seriously though?!
From my knowledge the world was not easier back then either...
Actually communications and businesses are able to operate faster and simpler thanks to the great technical tools and competition-adjusted work flow...

However, what I have observed (most of the times) in my applicants is besides the demographic change giving me quite a variety of profiles I am not necessarily looking for but also profiles that most likely show a great lack of passion for work fields and growth, unless it is monetary. So many magazines preach that employers exploit their employees and I am sure many of them do so - at least saw plenty of employers lacking passion for keeping their employees.. Most employees leave the employer when literally being done with it.
But the employee-employee relationship is just like every relationship - both gotta give their best and put passion in it for the relationship to work.
Employers need to treat their employees with as much care as they want their employees to take care of their tasks. Just like I teach my child, what you do not want to be done unto you, you shall not do unto him.

It is a give-give in order to make it a win-win.

Aloha

Alternative to all this university-degree-madness

The job market is fierce, even for graduates who completed Bachelor or Master even. It is even more fierce, who cannot afford to study or still struggle from paying all student loans back.
Well, guess what, there sure is an alternative to all this university-degree-madness.


When people cannot find a job in the workfield they have been working in or studied prior, or when mass lay-off's took place, the immediate key-solution in the news is been always named "education". Even when there are not enough positions to fill, people decide to study again, leaving themselves (and household) with additional debt to the first round of College and University caused by most students having to apply for student loans.

A different alternative compared to the long walk of College and University is besides the (unfortunately, hardly offered FixUC-Alternative) no-money-down-college-option, the very option of an Apprenticeship. While most Americans do not even know the existence of such it most likely could revolutionize the future workforce in a tremendous way for the youth from 17-25 year-olds, if endorsed and supported by the Chambers of Commerce or state itself. First of all, what is an Apprenticeship and what's it about? Usually, Apprenticeships are found in the Building Construction Industry, while Germany, for instance, opened the horizon of Apprenticeships and made them available in all different kinds of work fields, actually. From Marketing to cosmetics over Bakery and so on. The Chamber of Commerce in Germany even pulls up big-time campaigns, trying to make young people aware, that there is an equivalent (if not better alternative) to Bachelor and Master.
These days there is hardly anything of a topic one cannot study in big university rooms which is not also offered as apprenticeship – even tho it is by far a different teaching approach. But let me break it down for you. An Apprenticeship is a combined version of Vocational College and parallel on-the-job work experience in a corresponding work field. Usually it is two days school, three days of work of a five day-work-week . This combination allows the transfer of learnt theory directly into practice and vice versa. Apprenticeships in Germany, such as I was completing this year, last a max of three years and are supported by the Chambers of Commerce. It is valued to content all content of a 6 year study within these three years, with the chance to reduce the length all together to minimum of two years. In the end, completing an Apprenticeships leaves the Vocational College student with a valuable degree in his chosen work field and also working experience in the very same. On top of that, for younger people quite relevant, it will not let yourself nor your family in much debt, because an Apprenticeship is paid education and work! The employer, where the practical part of the Apprenticeship is completed at, pays his apprentice a monthly wage without too much money had to be put into this education in the first place - but paper, pen and other office material and well the fees for the two final exams. But even that is at max of EUR 2.500.

Teaching Apprentices means for an Employer to have:
1. young teachable workforce
2. bound workforce for at least 2-3 years
3. improvement of companys reputation as support for youth

But what advantages are in sight for those picking an Apprenticeship over a tour of College and University? Well, 2011 graduates faced historic burdens from student loans. We are talking about an average of $27,200 for graduates that borrowed student loans and other bank credit in order to
finish their school. In addition to the competition on the workforce market getting aggravatingly fierce, being trained very well in a broad field theoretically and practically is by far a great advantage ignored for far long enough. This is especially a chance for regions of instable infrastructures which show a high rate of youth unemployment and low education standards.

But here is the thing, or as I call it daily “the very dilemma”: Apprenticeships are not valued as much studies at University. Which is okay, you will think. But really?! I have had studied classmates who explicitly said, completing an apprenticeship is absolutely harder to do than all the studies they had done at a university. And it is! Even Germanys Secretary of Education, Annette Schavan, says, vocational education is EQUAL to academic education! (The original article is in German, but I am sure by using Googles languagetools you will at least understand half of it.
Back to my subject. Apprenticeships, in my opinion, are even more than equal to pure academic studies. They are more intense, it takes you to multitask, it is not only repeating what others say but to conclude constantly and remembering everything from laws, to manners required, to applying every little thing you have learnt to and on your job, which you, and I repeat, do also three days of the week. As Human Resources Person I am honestly quite sad about how there is made a humongous difference of both educations in value and also in money´s worth. While there shouldn’t. If you ask me it is the appreciation and acknowledgement that are missed about how much an Apprenticeship really takes of you!

As I said, however, for the American youth and especially for instable regions, this would be a perfect way to keep the youth off the street and in education…

I always remember my Vocational College teacher telling us that we cannot invent the wheel again, but we sure can make the best out of it. (Thanks Mr. M, btw)


Aloha

Little "about me"

So I meant to start to introduce myself and explain a little about why I start to blog and so on.

Actually, I never intented on doing such thing like blogging, especially not about HR topics. And actually, I still would not do it, if a great mentor of mine had not suggested me to blog.

I am not an outgoing person. As my grandmother in-law always said, been there done that. She kind of reminds me of a smaller version of Tyler Perry's Madea. Anyways, here I go with some few facts that hopefully paints a little picture of me.

I am (still) a young mom. Learned Cake Decorating and studied Human Resources Services and Management. So basically, I know how to make a cakes pretty and how to take care of babies and employees. Believe me, they have much a like. Except that babies do more work...literally.

When starting my apprenticeship I was not into reading about HR stuff and caring much for the "big topics". However, as my boss was so kind to make me read books. No he actually forced me to read them with the intention to sum it up for him but since he was somehow 24/7 busy he had the very pleasant habit of forgetting that i read them. I soaked the literature in my brain nevertheless.
I also had the very fortune to start in an advertising agency with and continueing a rough time. So eventually I just got into the topics. More because I learned to identify myself as employee first to understand what HR had and should have done. It's a brighter view, considering things from different angles.

This year, 2012, I finally got the keys to ho'oponopono and its aloha-spirit. And as of now, I believe that it contents a few keys to successful HR work - successfull for employer and employees.
With this being said, I hope you do not mind me getting all heartfilled and compassionate in my posts about HR-subject sometimes.

'Nough said for now.


Aloha