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Do Your Employees Know How to Stay Safe in Cold Conditions?

The material in this issue is adapted from BLR®’s audio PowerPoint® presentation on “Working in Cold Conditions.” One effective way to begin training sessions is to impress upon trainees why this particular training topic is so serious. Here’s some information about the dangers of working in the cold to give your trainees: Hypothermia is a […]

Unwelcome encore: managing investigations to survive ensuing litigation

by Jeff Sloan The classic Yogi-ism―”It ain’t over ’til it’s over”―has special significance for employment investigations. An investigation can lead not only to discipline against a perpetrator but also to litigation by the victim―or even the perpetrator―against the investigator or the employer. In either of those unsavory situations, the investigator or HR manager may be […]

job description

Q&A on Job Descriptions, Essential Functions, and Reasonable Accommodation

If an employee with a disability is reassigned to a vacant position that better accommodates the disability, but this position does not pay as well as the one they started in, can the employee’s pay be reduced? Can having a high school diploma or GED be a job requirement? What happens if a disabled employee […]

5 Important Interview Questions You’re Not Asking

People come to an interview wanting to tell the interviewer what the interviewer wants to hear. Interviewers often feed right into this by structuring the interview in a way that gives the applicant information to repeat back—allowing them to look perhaps more qualified for the role than they truly are. This is one reason why […]

Assistants, Team Leaders, and Supervisors— Exempt or Not?

In yesterday’s Advisor,we learned exemption status of many specific jobs. Today, the tricky status of executive assistants, team leaders, and supervisors who perform nonexempt duties, plus we introduce the all-things-HR website, HR.BLR.com. Supervisors Who Perform Concurrent Duties Supervisors who perform both exempt and nonexempt work may still qualify as exempt employees under the law. For […]

IRS Standard Mileage Rates Drop a Half-cent

Employers whose employees use their own vehicles business can now adjust their reimbursement forms and procedures for 2014, since the IRS released the standard mileage rates for the year in Notice 2013-80 on Dec. 6. The IRS also adjusted the reimbursement rate for miles driven for medical purposes or a relocation, also by half a […]

Train New Hires to Reduce Their Number of Injuries

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 40 percent of injured employees have been on the job less than a year. Farmers Insurance Group says that more than half of new workers injured were employed for less than a month, and one of every eight injuries occurred on the first day of work. […]

San Francisco employers soon must consider flexible work requests

by Cathleen S. Yonahara San Francisco’s new Family Friendly Workplace Ordinance takes effect January 1, 2014, meaning covered private employers in the city must consider employees’ requests for flexible or predictable working arrangements to assist with their caregiving responsibilities. Employers that directly or indirectly employ at least 20 employees are covered. When calculating the number […]

Four T’s for Dealing with That ‘Tough Nut to Crack’

With difficult, loud people, ask, Why is he or she so difficult? Maybe my thought is that this person is insecure, so I change my behavior, things change for the better, and the other person takes the credit. But there’s the beginning of a relationship. Four Ts of Crucial Connections To work on difficult relationships, […]

Master of his fate: leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela

by Dan Oswald “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” Nelson Mandela On December 5, the world lost an incredible leader when Nelson Mandela passed away at age 95. Mandela was South Africa’s first black president and led the country after the end of apartheid. Mandela’s passing caused me to […]