Meghan M. Biro, Author at TalentCulture

The Rise Of Marketing And Transparency In Recruitment

As we dive into the new year, top of mind for a lot of us are questions of need and want. One of which is the need for marketing and transparency in recruitment. And, if we could have anything we wanted in terms of HR Tech, what would it be? To better push employee engagement — with some kind of magical Big Brother-like metrics that ping us when employees start to lose interest? To finally relegate those creaky file cabinets in Storeroom B to things of the past, by allowing us agile and responsible access to the Cloud? What about big picture

#TChat Recap: How To Create The Ultimate Hiring Experience

This week the TalentCulture community talked with writer and filmmaker Heath Padgett about how to create the ultimate hiring experience. Heath has a very interesting story and it made for a great jumpstart to 2016. While still figuring out what he wanted to do with his life, Heath Padgett quit his software sales job and convinced his new bride to hit the road on their 2014 honeymoon and work a different job in all 50 U.S. states. They called their quest Hourly America and they filmed the entire journey for a documentary that will be released later this year. During his

How the Biggest Trends of 2015 Have Impacted HR and Recruitment

It’s safe to say that 2015 truly became “the year of digital technology.” Yes, we’ve seen a rapid evolution in technology over the last decade or so, but 2015 was definitely the year where those advancements made a huge impact on the workforce, especially when it comes to HR and recruitment. According to the latest Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the Millennial workforce (adults ages 18 to 34) is close to 54 million strong and rising, surpassing the Boomers in 2014, and this year toppling Gen X as the biggest cohort in our modern labor force. This

The Myths and Reality of the Workplace Generational Divide

There’s no dearth of information about the workplace generational divide–in fact, you’ve no doubt seen countless articles, blog posts, whitepapers, and case studies about how millennials are ‘taking over’ or altering the American workplace. While there’s some truth to that, there are many myths as well. Among the myths: Millennials need constant attention, lack decorum, and don’t seem to to know how to navigate basic tasks. There’s no question that a generation 80 million strong will make an impact on work culture, and marketers are paying close attention to them because they will control a vast portion of American wealth in

Maintaining Workplace Culture with Free-Range Employees

Did you know that one in three Americans currently engage in freelance work? That’s almost 54 million people, and that number is expected to rise significantly by 2020. Those freelancers, often called “free-range employees” are in many respects the future of work. And smart companies are focused on creating a workplace culture that can adapt to a workforce comprised of not only full time employees, but a cadre of freelance talent as well. So what gives? Why is there such a large increase in freelancing? In part, the answer lies in a changing work culture. Technology aside, the desire for increased

Using Data to Link Talent Decisions to Business (Webinar)

The HR industry talks a lot about analytics and data. Yet are we using data to link talent decisions to business? Not as much as we could be. There are many things to measure and a whole host of ways to measure them. The connection between the people in our organizations and the success of the business are so intertwined that it’s hard to believe that we ever separated the two. But even with powerful data readily available, are the majority of organizations using applicable information to their advantage? Maybe not. Are most HR departments just skimming the top of the

4 Ways To Cure Meeting Nausea

In terms of talent management, the term “meeting” may be the antidote to all the things we’re trying to improve. I’m talking about engagement, retention, productivity, ownership, collaboration. Is there even one of us who hasn’t been reduced to a state of what a waste of my time in at least one meeting in the past month? An MIT study on meetings found that we hold some 11 million meetings during one typical workday in the U.S. alone. And the next time you’re doing that surreptitious under-the-desk Googling on your smartphone, search for the annual “time wasted at work” survey. In

5 Powerful Career Drivers For The Future of Work

Have you come up with any worthy New Years’ resolutions yet? Are they already broken? If not, or if so, relax and stay positive. It’s never too late to make a few career-focused resolutions. I’ll be bold and propose that 2016 be the year to resolve to take charge of your career, your destiny and your life story. If it sounds like a real stretch, it is. I’m encouraging everyone to take action. Take heart, though – like all resolutions it’s a process, a combination of problem identification, ideas/ideation, search for solutions, and actions. Resolutions aren’t absolutely binding, so it’s not

The Real Millennial Challenge: The Skills Gap

A recent study by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) (link to study) found that U.S. Millennials lag behind their global counterparts in a way that creates real on-the-job problems for them, their colleagues and teammates, and managers: They show a genuine lack of hard and soft skills. According to the ETS Report, U.S. Millennials “…consistently score below many of their international peers in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. Equally troubling is that these findings represent a decrease in literacy and numeracy skills when compared to results from previous years of U.S. adult surveys.” In real terms, this means

Facebook: When Trust Is Exploited

In 2014, Facebook came under fire after a study was published revealing that the social network was doing research on some users that use its platform. It was not only ugly the way in which Facebook conducted the research, but the assumptions the researchers made about the average user’s willingness to be emotionally manipulated were chilling. In the study, “Experimental Evidence Of Massive-Scale Emotional Contagion Through Social Networks”, researchers Adam Kramer, Jamie Guillory and Jeffrey Hancock manipulated the news feeds of nearly 700,000 Facebook users. The goal was to see if manipulating news feeds could lead to what the researchers termed

Dealing With Feelings: Be An Emotionally-Aware Leader

A leader can fall too easily into the trap of seeing the people who work for them as employees first and people second. Yet, it’s the people who determines whether or not your company will be successful. How can leaders better understand what drives employees and how to deal with their feelings? It isn’t easy but the payoff can be huge. Being emotionally aware lets you balance your workforce to meet new challenges, get day-to-day work done and innovate. Plus, emotionally-aware leaders build engagement with employees. In turn, these employees are more committed to the organization, deliver better results, please customers

Leadership: It's All In Your Head

We call it vision when it works. But what possessed the leadership of Volkswagen to systematically falsify emissions reports? What drives a magnate with unruly hair (so much so that it has its own meme) to toss his pompadour in the ring and make a loud bid for the presidency? Why would the CEO of a BigPharma company think a five thousand percent price hike on a medication was justifiable? Is it really the same impulse that prompts a smiling, trailer-dwelling CEO to transform his online retail site into a model of the workplace 3.0? I’m of course referring to Tony

Transparency Is the Key to Recruiting Young Talent

When you were searching for jobs in the early days of your career, was “transparency” something that even crossed your mind? For many of us, the whole process was a dance–an art form where both the candidate and the recruiter put their game face on and sold themselves. The job search has changed, and if you’re still trying to impress candidates with a sales pitch that’s anything less than 100-percent authentic, you will fail. Millennials expect transparency, and can spot a fraud pretty quickly. In June at a Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference, one takeaway was obvious: “Gen Y values authenticity, transparency

#TChat Recap: The Power of Relationships from Bedroom to Boardroom

Most of us understand that trust is the one of the most important elements of strong relationships at home and at work. But how are we fostering trust in organizations today? This week, The TalentCulture community talked about the power of relationships with our guest, Tamara McCleary, an internationally recognized expert on relationships and conscious business. The community had a lively discussion about building trustworthy relationships and their role in workplace culture. Tamara gave us all a lot to think about. The TalentCulture community was rocking and rolling with ideas about how we can create more trustworthy work environments, and how

Addressing Your Employees’ Holiday Stress

It’s that time of year again: Fourth quarter results are almost finalized, companies are wrapping up contracts, evaluating the successes of the past year, and developing strategic plans for the coming year. This means it’s a busy time for your employees. When you add to the equation busy social calendars, kids getting out of school for holidays (and working parents scrambling as a result), along with holiday financial commitments—stress levels for your employees inevitably rise. What can you do as an employer, a manager, or even an HR pro, to help ease that holiday stress? Let’s discuss. One study in the

Revamping The Status Quo In 2015: 4 Trends In HR Technology

What have we seen as the hot trends in HR technology this year? It’s a rhetorical question: put another way: what aren’t the trends? HR technology in itself, having profoundly changed the game, is the hot trend: it’s heated up our field in ways that allow us to leverage talent on an entirely different level, regardless of the size or scope of an organization and irrespective of the end goals, from short-term to future-casting. We saw further evidence of just how far we’ve come in October, during the HR Technology Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas. Once we might have all discussed the concept of

The 2 Things Brands Must Do to Edge Out the Competition

We all choose to trust someone: our recruiter, our employer, our friends and family and the loosely connected peer groups we have built online. Besides these closely held and trusted relationships, we also look to online influencers – everything from shopping sites and corporate websites to journalists and columnists to sites like Yelp, Angie’s List and Care.com – as credible and reliable sources. But do we trust these new influencers or do they merely exist to replace the role of advertisers, recruiters and newspapers? “Influencer” is a role, a responsibility and a form of advocacy — both from an individual’s and

#TChat Preview: The Power of Relationships from Bedroom to Boardroom

The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT). Last week we talked about a few of our favorite #TChat shows, and this week we’re going to talk about the power of relationships—from the bedroom to the boardroom! One of the most critical elements of any relationship is trust. Couples who build a strong sense of trust are happier than those who don’t. Following the same concept, people in trustworthy work relationships have proven to be more productive and have better connections with their co-workers. Business leaders, including HR, must inspire

#TChat Recap: These Are a Few of Our Favorite Chats

This week, the TalentCulture community enjoyed a quick trip down memory lane as we reminisced about some of our favorite chats of 2015 (and even broke out in song.) Choosing our favorites wasn’t an easy task; there were just too many great shows to pick from. To make it easier, we broke them down into three categories: – The chats that made us think – The shows that made us learn – And the favorites that made us laugh Since it’s nearing the end of 2015 and the holidays are upon us, the TalentCulture #TChat Show co-hosts and co-founders Meghan M.

The First Steps to Transforming Work Culture

Changing workplace culture is never a revolution—at least, not if you want change that lasts. So if you’re focused on transforming your work culture as we move into the coming year, it’s important to know that it’s a process, not an overnight transformation. That’s an idea that makes many leaders uncomfortable; we like to think of ourselves as disruptive and courageous, able to flip a switch and inspire change. The reality is, particularly in a large organization, sudden changes often do more damage than good. It’s exceedingly difficult, and often a mistake, to aim for wholesale culture shifts overnight. The benefits

What's More Important to Give Employees: A Gift Card or a Pat on the Back?

While many companies use financial compensation to reward employees, there are times when these rewards lose their effectiveness. Here is when to consider ditching the bonus for a simple pat on the back. While companies are comfortable with giving financial rewards to employees, they often get stuck when it comes to giving meaningful, genuine recognition. Yet recognition is often the more powerful reward, since it speaks to the employee in the language of meaning and personal context, rather than generic gift cards. What speaks even more volume is creating reward programs with a social component. This approach brings the department or larger

5 Ways Leaders Rock Employee Recognition

I was grocery shopping the other day (Yes, this sometimes happens). A mom with two small kids in tow kept up a constant stream of chatter: “Great job pushing the cart, Stella, you are so smart.” “Good work picking out a pepper, Max, now put it back.” It went on and on – kids do something/anything, mother responds with a positive affirmation, kids do another something, mother reacts. This is so awesome to see in action. I’m in aisle 10 and it continues. There is a giant metaphor unfolding as I seek out my coconut water. You rock. You’re so special.

Are You a Social CEO?

Richard Branson lives large on social media, weaving stories about a life lived on the edge in <140 characters. Jack Dorsey tweets of past presidents, music and business wisdom filtered through poets and writers. Elon Musk narrates rocket launches and provides matter-of-fact commentary on innovation. But the C-suite at HP, Oracle, GE and many other companies has largely been silent on Twitter, LinkedIn and other widely-accessible social media channels. Why, when it would appear social media has changed the rules of communication, would a leader be silent? Hasn’t social media rewritten the rules of leadership? It’s arguably lowered barriers to communication,

How Technology and Work Culture Drive Each Other

There’s a ton of research showing that a happy employee is a more engaged employee(and more productive, too), and technology can play a big role. As I’ve mentioned previously, the future of work is here. Companies operating with a 21st century mindset know that technology and work culture are interlinked, with one driving the other. Apart from the typical communication tools, technology goes much further, even allowing us to reward workers in the moment. Gamification, intra-company social networks and external applications all play a role when it comes to maintaining the health and well-being of employees. Gamification and Employee Engagement Gamification

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Meghan M. Biro

Meghan M. Biro

The Rise Of Marketing And Transparency In Recruitment

#TChat Recap: How To Create The Ultimate Hiring Experience

How the Biggest Trends of 2015 Have Impacted HR and Recruitment

The Myths and Reality of the Workplace Generational Divide

Maintaining Workplace Culture with Free-Range Employees

Using Data to Link Talent Decisions to Business (Webinar)

4 Ways To Cure Meeting Nausea

The Real Millennial Challenge: The Skills Gap

Facebook: When Trust Is Exploited

Dealing With Feelings: Be An Emotionally-Aware Leader

Leadership: It's All In Your Head

Transparency Is the Key to Recruiting Young Talent

#TChat Recap: The Power of Relationships from Bedroom to Boardroom

Addressing Your Employees’ Holiday Stress

Revamping The Status Quo In 2015: 4 Trends In HR Technology

The 2 Things Brands Must Do to Edge Out the Competition

#TChat Preview: The Power of Relationships from Bedroom to Boardroom

#TChat Recap: These Are a Few of Our Favorite Chats

The First Steps to Transforming Work Culture

What's More Important to Give Employees: A Gift Card or a Pat on the Back?

5 Ways Leaders Rock Employee Recognition

How Technology and Work Culture Drive Each Other

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Meghan M. Biro

Meghan M. Biro

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