HR Hot Topics Dropped From Agenda

Paige · October 2003

Uggggghhhhh!!!! For the past week, I have been working on my presentation for our corporate meetings (to take place next week) and was informed today that due to other speakers who are scheduled, my presentation needed to be deleted.

I suppose I should be jumping for joy. This comes at a time, however, when this could be the last straw. A couple of you know my background and know I have had difficulty in my position (dealing with a good-'ole-boys-club; not feeling as though HR is valued in my organization)--I'm doing all I can to fight back the tears as that is not the "manly" (or mature, I suppose) thing to do.

Is this confirmation that this really is not where I belong? Should I say, "Who cares? They're paying to fly my husband and I out of state and put us up in a 5-star hotel for 5 nights."?

Self-employment is looking SOOO much more appealing!! xx(

mjindra · October 2003

What were the reasons given for the change? I wouldn't decide my job future on that, unless you're getting vibes from management that you haven't described in your post.

Everybody wants to cry sometimes over the frustrations of the job, but you know how important your position is and you should just keep plugging away.

What do you mean by self-employment, do you have something in mind? If so, maybe that why you think the grass is always greener . . . .

Parabeagle · October 2003

At a minimum, I think deleting the HR topics is a true indicator of the priority they place on HR matters. Whether or not you can work in such an environment is something you will have to determine for yourself. One thing you can try, though: If you can manage it, try insinuating yourself very slowly and carefully into the operations end of your business, which is where most problems occur in my company. If you can cultivate allies among the ops heirarchy, and help them see the importance of HR, you might find them championing (is that a word?) your cause with the top execs. It takes time, but it's a path I had to pursue with my current company. They had trouble spelling HR before I came aboard. A wealth of horrific war stories about companies who ignore HR issues at their peril helps, too. Good luck.

Crout · October 2003

As with baseball, there is no crying in HR!

Dasher · October 2003

Sometimes we all feel like going Uggggghhhhh!!!!
So you prepared a wonderful presentation and now you can't give it! Turn that lemon into lemonade. You have information and that is always power. Go to the meeting prepared for anything. (Maybe one of the scheduled speakers will not be able to come and guess who is ready to step in at the drop of a hat?) In any event, enjoy the hotel and your husband. Network, Network, Network. Next year they may be begging you to present.

Tony Kessler · October 2003

Paige,
I'm sorry to hear that your HR "Hot Topics" presentation was canceled, especially on such short notice. But I wouldn't toss it just yet. In your original post about this subject, you mentioned that the presentation was going to be 15 minutes long. When you get back to the office after the five-day trip, couldn't you just ask for 15 minutes at your next management team meeting? If there are others who should get the info but don't work at your facility, could you prepare a short article or summary about your findings and e-mail it to them? If you have a PowerPoint, you could call and offer to walk them through it. If you do all of that and do it well, two things occur: They get the info, and you show that you've got some drive and some passion and that you're not going to be put off by the last-minute cancellation. If you go quietly into the night, the powers-that-be may assume that they guessed right and that you don't have anything important to report. I wouldn't be deterred by the cancellation, but as the others have said, maybe other things are going on that lead you to want to chuck it all. By the way, I'd be interested in reading the finished product, too. Maybe you could post it in this thread when it's ready. Good luck. tk

Tony Kessler, director of editorial
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
(615) 661-0249 ext. 8068

Paige · October 2003

Well--I am so glad I posted here. The intentions of my posting were met--all the comments have helped and the last couple were great at showing me I DO need to turn this into a positive. (Even the baseball comment made me chuckle--I LOVE Tom Hanks and "League of Their Own" is a GREAT movie!)

Just a side note--while I originally thought it was only going to be a 15 min. presentation, it turned out that I had an hour slot. My presentation consisted of 5 "Hot Topics" and an expansion of the topic of recruitment and retention.

I'd be happy to post the Power Point, but I do need to mention that I used several articles and did not necessarily do any citing, as I was just bringing it to a small group of people. How do I go about posting it?

Pork · October 2003

WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE 5 NIGHTS AND OUT OF STATE CONFERENCE, AND JUMP UP AND DOWN THAT YOU CAN RELAX AND ENJOY THE VACATION AT COMPANY EXPENSE. I HAVE BEEN IN HR FOR A VERY LONG TIME AND IT STILL REMAINS THE 2nD GROUP TO GO AFTER THE ADVERTISING DOLLARS ARE GONE. So life goes on, enjoy any job security that you may have in a non-stressful world, just process the people in and out and don't worry about the worry of presentations and planning/???/

Eat more Pork on our trip and the vacation resort will be the just reward for such a hard and dedicated staffer! Go talk with the Accountants about those good ole boys, make arrangements for a BBQ while you are at it.

PORK

HR Hot Topics Dropped From Agenda

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