By Barry Rubenstein 

I was recently asked to facilitate a meeting with senior level HR professionals. They wanted to hear about the latest trends in Human Resources – what’s hot, what’s not. In addition, they wanted to know how HR can add more value to their organizations.
Continue reading The Super-Generalist!

By Barry Rubenstein

One of the most fundamental things that employees want/need to know is whether or not they are being compensated fairly. While people’s interpretation of what is “fair” can be quite variable, when companies engage in the process of reviewing market trends related to compensation, your employees will feel more satisfied and retention will increase. The analysis and resulting compensation strategy is one piece of a company’s strategic employee retention program. However, by offering competitive salaries, you will be well on your way to attracting and retaining the most qualified employees for your business.

Continue reading How Can We Remain Competitive: Compensation Market Analysis

By Barry Rubenstein

If you take the view that “human capital” is a company’s biggest and most important asset, you will agree that the start up of a Human Resources function is one of the most critical factors in the success of any organization. However, to begin an HR organization, a myriad of building blocks need to be in place. These building blocks provide the infrastructure of organizational success. As a Human Resources consultant, I have been tasked with developing and leading HR organizations for companies across a wide spectrum of industries. Drawing upon my experience as a consultant, this article will detail the elements necessary for HR and overall company success.
Continue reading Ten Elements of a Successful HR Start-up — Getting Back to Basics

By Barry Rubenstein

One of the core competencies of all HR practitioners is training. While not all HR people possess the “stand-up” training skills that others may, HR plays a pivotal role in ensuring that their managers and employees have access to relevant training opportunities.

So what needs to be put in place in order to develop and implement a successful training program? Let’s explore…
Continue reading HR’s Role in the Training Process

By Barry Rubenstein

At its inception, Human Resources or rather, “personnel” departments were often viewed as obstacles or impediments to a company’s growth due to HR’s insistence on inflexible policy implementation and a lack of overall business acumen. Nicely, HR’s role has evolved into occupying seats on the executive team. However, in order for HR to “keep their seat” work has to be done!

So how does HR make its way to the executive team? Let’s explore…
Continue reading HR: Movement from “Policy Police” to Business Partner

By Barry Rubenstein

As I think about the issue of career development, I am reminded of a conversation I once had with an employee who told me, “it is not my job to develop my career, it is yours”. While I certainly don’t agree with this notion, it gave me pause for thought. The conclusion I came to is that in order to be effective, career development processes need to be collaborative in nature. The development of a career development structure entails the following:
Continue reading Career Development: Who’s Responsibility is it?

By Barry Rubenstein

In previous columns I touched upon the business partner-aspects of HR as well as the impact of training in HR. In thinking about the term “human resources” I want to focus on the latter part of the term. In order to be successful, HR people must have vast resources available to them.

Let’s see what tricks we need to have up our sleeves…
Continue reading Putting the “Resources” into HR