#6Things: GirlBoss, Samantha Bee, Bubble Watch

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

Hate to bring you down while you’re sucking down your third mojito of the day down there in Austin SXSW, but smart people are saying it’s time to gird your loins. I had a bit of a tussle with Shally about whether or not the slowdown is affecting HR or not. As a marketer in the HR and Recruiting tech space, I say YES and as a trainer and education provider to thousands of recruiters, Shally says no. Either way, Kris Dunn’s take is an interesting one and if you work in the space (and you MUST or you would be bored shiftless by this blog) you should read it. If you’re hiring, period, check it out. (Charts for Smart HR Pros)

Samantha Bee’s #Roar, You-Go-Girl Job Fair for Future Women. Lean In!

Woof. Not only did I star this as something to highlight a few weeks ago, I realized just this AM when Nicole Jordan (Silicon Beach PR Genius) asked me about the sexual harassment suit at JWT, that we have a depressingly long way to go. Also? In the JWT case, HR is kinda the bad guy. So I shouldn’t have to say it, but I will anyway. Don’t touch women’s bodies, joke about raping them, call people “monkeys”…like EVER but definitely not at work. And if you work in HR and someone comes to you with a sex harassment case or racist commentary they are getting or hearing from any sort of leadership, it’s TOTALLY YOUR JOB TO HELP THEM! Cripes. (Vox Media)

Smart people are sort of hanging around

In the last WEEK ALONE, I’ve heard of five, count them, 1,2,3,4,5 people looking for something other than their current gig. All are in the HR/Recruiting space and all are whip-smart awesome. Like, if I hired all of them today, no one else in the market would stand a chance….wait. If you’re looking to lock down marketing talent or find the next marketing superstar, please call me or email me because DAMN. (Email for Deets!)

Does my employee data make me look big?

So, employers are tracking if you’re knocked up, which is bogus. Castlight, who you may be familiar with due to their meteoric rise over the past few years is helping. Healthcare analytics companies can mine workers’ medical claims, pharmacy claims, and search queries to figure out if an employee is trying to conceive or is already pregnant. Castlight only collects data on individuals who explicitly opt into its services, which include a search function for in-network doctors and the ability to track health care spending (The fine print: Opting into the service also gives Castlight permission to share data with the individual’s employer). (Fortune)

GIRLBOSS LAYOFFS

Millennial girl power hero allows CEO to treat staff like crap and then company lays off lots of ladies about to go on, or actually ON, maternity leave, then lays off 19 people in one day. Truly though, I feel bad for this. The entrepreneur thing is HARD as all get out and you’d think hiring another CEO would take stuff off her plate. But when a bunch of people who work for your company describe it as “hellish”, you should probably take a step back. As Heather Bussing recently said: Employee engagement in three words: Give a shit. (Jezebel)

ZENEFITS REWIND

Rewind to a year or even two years ago, when all my clients were desperate to emulate the meteoric rise of Zenefits. Hiring announcements, followed by radio ads, driven home by funding raises one on top of the other and massive plans to disrupt the market (which, to be fair, they totally did). Today the Google search of Zenefits looks a little different, with layoff announcements, CEO shifts amidst compliance woes and the now infamous “sex in stairwells”, which surely some bropreneur has decided he is going to use as the title of his power manual. It’s a trainwreck and one that has many licking their lips at the carnage. But we’d be super dumb to laugh them out of the arena just yet. CEO David Sacks seems ready to make some cuts and build out a company that can stay true to its disruptive business model, without totally imploding. Good luck! (TechCrunch)

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.