Halloween—A Time for Team Building?

It used to be that Halloween was a holiday only celebrated by children but it has now become one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the US (and it’s catching on in other countries as well).  I remember when I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and was absolutely amazed that pretty much everyone dressed up on Halloween.  Even the bank tellers and the grocery checkout clerks were in full costume and I don’t mean they just put a mask on with their work uniform —they wore amazing costumes that took great creativity to put together!  I remember driving to work on the first Halloween in Los Angeles and almost driving off the road when I looked to my right at a stop light and saw someone dressed like a bear in the car next to me!

So, my first Halloween in LA was pretty amazing for me!  Our office had over 200 employees and there was a contest for the best individual costume and another competition for departments—and that is where it really got interesting!  One of my favorites was the year the accounting department came as the “fruit” from the Fruit of the Loom logo.  Picture the very conservative CFO wearing 20 inflated balloons to replicate the grapes in the logo! 

As you can imagine, not much work was accomplished on Halloween but it was a huge amount of fun and it was a team building day as well.  Putting together a departmental theme took a lot of time and effort and everyone had to participate.  The best part of this story is that EVERYONE participated—even the top executive staff.  Imagine coming to work and seeing the CEO dressed as Dracula—you have to laugh at that sight!

Celebrating Halloween at work has caught on across the US and now many organizations encourage people to come to work in costume.  I share this with you because, if you are a long-time reader of this blog, you know that we think lightening up at work can have a positive impact on productivity, engagement, and retention.  Halloween give you a perfect excuse to have some fun at work and for your employees to work together on something a little more creative and enjoyable than their usual projects!   It may be too late this year to put team costume competition together but think about it for next year!

What will you be for Halloween this year?  Come on—have some fun and see how your employees respond! You may discover Halloween is a great way to strengthen your team.

Celebrating Abilities!

As a young child, I was probably about 8 or 9 years old, my grandfather took me to his company picnic on Long Island, NY.  My young mind was fascinated that my able-bodied (a term I didn’t know at the time) grandfather worked in a place where there were people with missing limbs and other disabilities (another term I didn’t know).  My grandfather worked at the Viscardi Center (www.viscardicenter.org) which prepares adolescents and adults with all types of disabilities and levels of experience for entry or re-entry into the workforce. It was founded over sixty years ago by Dr. Henry Viscardi, Jr. who himself wore prosthetic legs.  He became one of the world’s leading advocates for people with disabilities and an advisor to U.S. eight presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter.  Years later, in my corporate life, I would once again cross paths with the Viscardi Center. 

On July 26, 1990 President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.  This law was modeled after Section 503 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which prohibited government contractors from discriminating against individuals with disabilities and required them to engage in affirmative action to employ and advance in employment this group of individuals.

Under these laws, an individual with a disability has i) A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual; (ii) A record of such an impairment; or (iii) Being regarded as having such an impairment.  For employment purposes, the individual must be able to perform the job’s essential functions with or without a reasonable accommodation in order to enjoy the protections of the law.

On March 24, 2014, new regulations became effective under Section 503. Government contractors must now establish a utilization or representation goal for individuals with disabilities in their workforces.  To meet this utilization goal, the US Department of Labor suggests working with:

·       State Vocational Rehabilitation Service Agencies

·       Employer Assistance and Resource Network funded by DOL

·       Employment One-Stop Career Centers

·       Local Employer Network Organizations in SSA’s Ticket to Work Employment Network Directory www.yourtickettowork.com/endir

·       Placement Offices of educational institutions specializing in placements of individuals with disabilities.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with Cindy Roberts from the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services.  I learned that DARS Business Services provides business with

·     Prescreened Qualified Candidates - (Matching candidate skills and background with job requirements)

·     Pre-employment testing  and Background checks on DARS referrals

·     Financial Incentives

·     Job Retention/Return to Work Services

·     Accessibility Analysis and Solutions

Some of the ways they support business and clients is by helping with recruiting and staffing by setting up job internships or on-the-job training to make sure the employee is a good fit, arranging job fairs, and partnering with job coaches to guide the clients (employees) you hire who need extra support services.  Additionally, they can help identify accommodations and assistive technology that are simple and inexpensive.  They can also help by providing financial incentives for businesses through on-the-job training reimbursements and assisting with Work Opportunity Tax Credits.  Virginia employers can learn more about DARS and the services they offer employers by visiting their website at www.vdars.org.

Each state has a vocational rehabilitation agency which is federally funded to assist people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain, or regain employment.  If your organization hasn’t already done so, conduct a search for the one in your state and contact them.  You’ll be amazed at the resources they can offer you.

The US Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) sponsors four research and technical assistance resources, including

·       Job Accommodation Network (JAN) the leading source of free, expert and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues.

·       LEAD Center, a collaborative of disability, workforce and economic empowerment organizations led by National Disability Institute dedicated to advancing sustainable individual and systems-level change to improve competitive, integrated employment and economic self-sufficiency for adults across the spectrum of disabilities.

·       Employer Assistance and Resource Network (EARN) which helps employers hire and retain workers with disabilities. 

·       National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth), a partnership to promote success for youth with disabilities entering the workforce.

To learn more about these resources and ODEP visit the website at www.dol.gov/odep.

There are so many success stories regarding employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.  For example, between 3,000 and 4,000 DARS clients become successfully employed each year.  October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month.  Learn more about what your organization can do to celebrate successes and the abilities that every potential job candidate can bring to your organization. 

Keywords:  ADA, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, ODEP, Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, Viscardi Center, disability, employment

Beautiful

Our favorite dialogue from the Broadway musical Beautiful went something like this: toward the end of the play, before the closing scene where Carole King performs at Carnegie Hall, Barry Mann says to her, "Carole, play one of our songs." His wife and songwriting partner, Cynthia Weil, calls him on his comment. His response -- "Royalties" -- elicits the following from Weil: "Carole, play all our songs."

We saw Beautiful, based on Carole King's early life, in August. We'd taken the train to New York to attend a writers’ conference sponsored by Writer's Digest. The same morning that we saw the play, we had the opportunity to meet with our literary agent, Marilyn Allen. We were all celebrating the news that sales of The Big Book of HR had reached the point where our advance was covered and we would all start receiving income from the book. For us, that meant we could each expect a royalty check, albeit a modest one, in the near future. And as Marilyn reminded us, "every copy that sells now will earn royalties."

For authors and composers, a royalty is a sum of money paid to the original creator of a product, book, or piece of music based on how many copies have been sold or for each public performance of a work. Wow, we've something in common with Carole King, albeit on a much smaller scale. As our colleague Sharon Armstrong would say, "Fabulous!"

While we can dream about selling millions of copies of our book, we have no expectations of depending on its royalties to support ourselves. But there are many artists, composers, and authors whose livelihoods do depend on royalties. They bring their talent and intellectual capital to the marketplace and have every right to expect to be compensated for it. Through copyrights, they have the legal right to be the only one to reproduce, publish, and sell a book, musical recording, etc., for a certain period of time.

Five exclusive rights are granted to copyright holders under the Copyright Act of 1976:

·       the right to reproduce (copy) the work into copies and to exclude others from doing so

·       the right to create derivative works of the original work and to exclude others from preparing such derivative works or creations

·       the right to distribute copies of the work to the public by sale, lease, or rental, and to exclude others from such distribution

·       the right to perform the work publicly (if the work is a literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pantomime, motion picture, or other audiovisual work), and to exclude others from doing so without paying royalties

·       the right to display the work publicly (if the work is a literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pantomime, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, motion picture, or other audiovisual work), and to exclude others from doing so

It’s important to respect the intellectual capital of others and honor the creator’s right to receive compensation for his or her original work. Don’t infringe on their rights and don’t expect something for nothing.

To thank all our readers who’ve supported (and purchased) The Big Book of HR, we’ve got one short message, “You’re Beautiful!”

Business Lessons from Poker

Over the summer, my book read “Delivering Happiness: A path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.” It was written by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, Inc.  The book is about the path that he took that led him to Zappos and some of the lessons that he learned along the way.

One of the most humorous parts of the book is the list of lessons that Hsieh learned from playing poker that he felt could be applied to business. Here are just some of them.

Evaluating Market Opportunities:

·       Table selection is the most important decision you can make.

·       It's okay to switch tables if you discover it's too hard to win at your table.

·       If there are too many competitors, even if you’re the best, it's a lot harder to win.

Marketing and Branding:

·       Your brand is important.

·       Check the stories that people are telling about you.

Financials:

·       Make sure you your bankroll is large enough for the game you're playing and the risks you're taking.

·       Play only with what you can afford to lose.

·       Remember that it's a long-term game. You'll win or lose individual hands and sessions but it's what happens in the long term that matters.

Strategy:

·       Don't cheat. Cheaters never win in the long run.

·       Stick to your principles.

·       Differentiate yourself. Do the opposite of what the rest of the table is doing.

Continual Learning:

·       Educate yourself. Read books and learn from others who have done it before.

·       Learn by doing. Theory is nice but nothing replaces actual experience.

·       Learn by surrounding yourself a talented players.

·       Don't be afraid to ask for advice.

Culture:

·       Don't be cocky. Don't be flashy. There's always someone better than you.

·       Be nice and make friends. It's a small community

·       Share what you've learned with others.

·       Look for opportunities beyond the game you sat down to play.  You never know who you’re going to meet, including new friends for life or new business contacts.

·       Have fun. The game is more enjoyable when you're trying to do more than just make money

Business and leadership lessons can be found in the least obvious places and situations.  Be on the lookout for them and don’t discount the ones that come from unconventional circumstances.