ANNOUNCEMENT: Mailing List Updates (and other updates)

Hi all!  Just a couple of updates for readers of the blog and especially for email subscribers who get the blog that way. We at H3 HR Advisors are launching a new monthly email newsletter that will incorporate our latest articles, presentations, events, and most importantly for blog readers here, the latest shows from the HR Happy Hour Media Network. We are going to migrate the email subscriber list from this blog over to the new H3 HR monthly newsletter, where you will get the benefit of everything that has been happening here, as well as all the other great content being generated by the H3 HR team.

As longtime readers would know, I have pretty much stopped doing original writing here on this blog, and have focused on the H3 HR site as well as my monthly Human Resource Executive column. This blog has been pretty much left for re-sharing new HR Happy Hour Podcast episodes, which are now being posted over at the new and improved HR Happy Hour website at www.hrhappyhour.net. You also will find there the HR Happy Hour on Alexa version shows, the brand new HR Happy Hour Work Break video show, and all the other HR Happy Hour Media Network shows. I know that probably sounds like a lot of content, and it is, but I think now that we have both the H3 HR Advisors site and the HR Happy Hour site updated and refreshed, making our content easily accessible has been accomplished.

So for me, that leaves it to sort out what to do with this blog. In the short term, I may post the occasional HR Happy Hour Media Network updates here, as well as any other important or noteworthy H3 HR team announcements. Longer term, I probably will sunset the site, save the 12 or so years of posts to an archive, and call it a good run here. Either way, I will post an update here once I decide.

For long term (and newer) readers, I hope you do follow me over to the H3 HR and HR Happy Hour sites, the new H3 HR monthly newsletter, and of course subscibe to the HR Happy Hour family of podcasts on your favorite podcast app.

Thanks everyone for reading and subscribing, and special thanks to anyone who has been here with me since the early days - I really appreciate your time and support.

The tyranny of connectivity

I am slightly ashamed to admit to having done a fair bit of 'real' work over the long Labor Day weekend, (including yesterday, Labor Day itself). 

Of course I didn't really want to work on Labor Day, or perhaps said differently, I did not want involve other people in said work, mainly by sending out email messages to them on a holiday. But, sadly, I indeed did send a few email notes out, interspersed with the other work that I was doing that did not need to involve communicating to others in order to complete.

And I as wind up the holiday, (I am writing this on Monday night, pretty late), I have three quick observations from my Labor Day spent, (at least partly), working.

1. LOTS of other people were working too. As I mentioned, I did, against almost everything I hold dear, send a few work-related emails on Labor Day. I received replies from almost everyone I contacted. And three or four people replied to me within 10 minutes of my original message. If Labor Day is meant to be a celebration of the working person, lots of working persons I know were also, actually, working.

2. NO ONE I corresponded with over email or chat on Labor Day did not mention the fact that it was, in fact, a holiday. No one questioned why I was messaging them. No one replied, 'hey, it is a holiday, I will get back to you tomorrow', and almost no one failed to get back to me by about 8PM ET, (as I am writing this). 

3. Aside from the aforementioned email exchanges, I spent most of my 'working' time on tasks that did not require outside collaboration, input, or communication. They were just things I needed to do, and were fairly important, but for some reason had not been done. I noticed my ability to get these tasks completed on a holiday, where I was not being peppered every 2 minutes with a new incoming email or chat message was incredibly enhanced. Quite simply, I was probably twice as productive working on these items on a holiday as I would have been on a normal Monday, when I am, like everyone else, almost constantly being barraged by incoming messages and requests. If I changed my working hours to say, 7PM - 3AM I swear I would be two or three times more productive than I am now. The technology and the need to stay 'connected' all the time during the normal workday is killing our ability to get things done.

I am not about to change my official work schedule to 'off hours', but I can't say that I am not tempted. there is something to be said for working when no one, (or most anyway), are not working, and you can be, despite our state of constant connectivity, be more or less alone with your thoughts.

There are thousands of productivity advice pieces that advocate that you consciously disconnect from email and work chat and Slack, etc. during the work day in order to get more work done. But realistically, how many people actually take that advice and feel comfortable and empowered enough to actually not be accessible to work colleagues for large stretches of the workday?

Most organizations, and teams, expect if not demand almost real-time access and response.

It is not until you spend a day, or even a few hours, working when that expectation simply does not matter until you realize how our constant connectivity damages our ability to get anything done.

Having said that, maybe I should not have been surprised so many other folks seemed to be working on Labor Day. They too must have realized that a holiday is the best day to get anything done.

Have a great week!

PODCAST - #HRHappyHour 213 - Try Again

HR Happy Hour 213 - Try Again

Recorded Wednesday May 27, 2015

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane

Featuring: Ben Eubanks

LISTEN HERE

This week on the show Steve and Trish (calling in from an undisclosed location in Arkansas), talked about the the most valuable brands in the world, how work and workplaces are pretty much forever changed, and the how it isn't really cool to let someone know they are a loser when they didn't even know they were competing in the first place.

Additionally, Trish made a big and very exciting announcement, Ben Eubanks dropped by with the next installment of Ben's HR Book Review, and Steve showed incredible ignorance of the quality of the fish that one can catch in Arkansas.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, or using the widget player below: 

Check Out Business Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Steve Boese Trish McFarlane on BlogTalkRadio

 

And of course you can listen to and subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on iTunes, or via your favorite podcast app. Just search for 'HR Happy Hour' to download and subscribe to the show and you will never miss a new episode.

This was a really fun show. Thanks to everyone for listening and subscribing!