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Cosby [continued from page 1]
Cosby frequently drew biblical analogies in
his talk, adding his own interpretations to the
story of Creation. Sunday's talk was no different.
He called God the first workforce manager;
Adam and Eve were his first employees. Even
though they had a relatively simple task to do,
tending the Garden of Eden, they made a mess
of things. The pair got diverted, he said.
"Just like people at work, they want to do
something else, run someone else's job," he
said, getting a solid laugh.
In the same vein, Cosby told the story of two
geniuses and two human resources professionals
all trying to get into heaven at the same time
The gatekeeper told them that they could get
into heaven if they came up with a question
God couldn't answer. The geniuses were
stumped, but the human resources pair got in.
"They asked God when the company they
were working for was going to get their shit together,"
Cosby said, getting one of his biggest
laughs of the day.
Seats in the massive San Diego Convention
Center hall began filling up early Sunday afternoon.
The early arrivals were entertained by
Beach Boys music piped into the cavernous
hall, including "Good Vibrations," which set the
tone for the day.
"He's very funny," Mary Williams, vice president
of human resources at the Foothills Bank
in Yuma, Arizona, said of Cosby. "I think he felt
sorry for us because being in charge of human
beings is like trying to herd chickens."
Karen Doyle, with the Colorado State Employees
Association, said Cosby seemed to understand
the problems faced by the profession.
"I feel caught in the middle all the time," she
said, leaving the convention hall with a smile on
her face.
Cosby, a hugely successful television star and
comedian who also wrote the best-selling books
"Fatherhood" and "Time Flies," stayed away
from controversial subjects in his SHRM
speech.
Last year, he created a storm of controversy
when he criticized poor African Americans for
what he said was a lack of personal responsibility.
Although Cosby touched on diversity, of a
kind, when he talked about tensions between
men and women, he didn't mention minorities
in the workplace. Burt Collier, human resources
supervisor at the Orlando Utilities
Commission, said it would not have been appropriate
for Cosby to address that issue.
"I'm not surprised he didn't bring it up," Collier
said. "It would have lent controversy to the
expo, and this is not the forum for that."
Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and patterned
tie, Cosby impressed the audience by
clearly coming down on their side in what is a
tough job.
"You just want to make a difference going up
against the sandbags they keep piling up against
you. Am I right or wrong?" he asked. He got his
answer when the audience roared their assent.
Human resources faces numerous challenges,
he said, from poorly educated workers
to finding jobs for people with special needs.
"All of you have to be prepared for the new,
and if you don't, HR will become something that
stands for somebody to blame," he said.
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On booze, Bonzo and broadening HR's horizons
What were SHRM attendees talking about on
Sunday in San Diego? Everything from problems
at work, lawsuits, international business
and the state of HR to tequila, chimpanzees and
the pair of Maltese dogs that squeaked through
registration.
From a resting spot
outside the SHRM Bookstore,
Jason Reynolds, a
32-year-old African-American ethics officer at Georgia Power,
shared his thoughts about his difficulty gaining
the trust of his fellow black colleagues. He was
named coordinator of workplace ethics at the
utility company two years ago after the firm was
sued in a class-action lawsuit by a group of
African-American employees.
The workers claimed that the company did
nothing about the racially disturbing hangman's
nooses that were seen hanging from the rafters
at company facilities. The lawsuit was thrown
out, but Reynolds said many of his black colleagues
continue to be distrustful of him and of
management.
"They say to me, ‘Are you just a token?'
"Reynolds said he tells them: "This is part of the
process, and I am here to help you.'"
Not far from where Reynolds discussed work
problems, Philip Benson, a professor of
human resources at New Mexico State University,
browsed through the global section at
the bookstore. He had just returned to the U.S.
on Saturday from an international HR meeting
in Australia, and he said he was disappointed
there weren't more Americans there-probably
no more than about a dozen out of 150 participants
from around the world.
"This is my real issue," Benson said. "There
is no such thing anymore as a non-international
American business. That's why I think students
should live abroad for six months. Too many
people in HR haven't even been out of the
country and they're trying to provide expat support.
"As Americans, we need to broaden our horizons."
Although anger over U.S. job losses because
of offshoring has dominated media and politics
recently, a manager at a Florida utility is more
concerned about a looming dearth of employees
in the U.S. workforce. 
Burt Collier, human resources supervisor at
the Orlando Utilities Commission, said the
biggest challenge facing HR is how to replace
the millions of baby boomers who will retire
over the next 20 years. ‘It's going to be increasingly
difficult to fill positions. Nationwide we're
facing a shortage of people,' he said. ‘The numbers
are staggering.'
Collier suggested the U.S. would have to
boost immigration to meet the employer
demand.
Kate Morris, marketing manager at Legiant,
a time and attendance tracking company in
Austin, Texas, lamented the problems she's had
with the company's trade show booth. At her
suggestion, the firm had planned to give out virgin
margaritas with little bottles of tequila for
visitors.
But at another conference last month, the
San Diego Convention Center's employee
union wouldn't allow the company to serve
alcohol without hiring a union bartender.
"I mean, come on, human resources and
payroll people and tequila, what's better than
that?"
Mayflower Transit did serve margaritas at
its booth, and they went fast. Trade show manager
Linda Nosko said servers at the booth had
poured 560 of them in the first 30 minutes of a
reception Sunday in the Exhibition Hall. And
promptly ran out.
"We reordered," she promised. "Three times
the regular order, and so we're good—we'll be
good."
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