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Fighting distraction at work: Must concentration fall victim to collaboration?

HR professionals devote a lot of energy to fostering efficiency, productivity, and employee engagement. But is the effort from HR a waste if office design makes it difficult or impossible for employees to concentrate?  Sometimes offices designed with collaboration in mind—large open spaces with few sound-and-sight-killing walls—also invite distraction. So the question becomes how can […]

Advantages and Disadvantages—Team Goals vs. Individual Incentives?

Busch, whose remarks came at a recent BLR-sponsored webinar, is owner of HR Compensation Consultants, LLC. Here are her suggestions about team and individual incentives. What Are Team-Driven Incentives? Team-driven incentive are intended to foster a collaborative environment in which team members are focused on helping one another. They are: Based on a team’s performance. […]

Green Circles Are Dangerous, Red Circles Are Just Expensive

In yesterday’s Advisor, consultant Terry Pasteris offered guidance on compensation metrics; today, dangers of Green Circles plus an introduction to the compensation guide that puts federal and state regulations at your fingertips. Red Circle employees indicate you are spending too much on compensation relative to the value of the jobs, says consultant Terry Pasteris, CCP, […]

Electronic Employee Records: Pros and Cons

Electronic employee records are everywhere, whether we like it or not. Laptops, phones, servers, and even employee personal electronic devices may contain company-related information. The number of ways we have to create and store documents seems to grow by the minute. How can an employer keep track of it all? And is there still an […]

Make Sure Supervisors Understand Alternate-Duty Work

Your supervisors need to understand alternate-duty work—what it is and what it isn’t. Share with them the following important information on this topic. Alternate-duty work is one of the most important ways to ease a recovering employee’s return to work. Alternate-duty work is a transitional phase for a worker recovering from a job-related injury or […]

Metrics—How to Know Your Comp System Is OK

How can you know if your comp program is meeting organization goals? You have to maintain metrics, says consultant Terry Pasteris, CCP, GRP. But there are metrics, and then there are metrics. Why Are Compensation Metrics Important? Pasteris, who is president of TLMP Consulting Group, offered her tips at a recent BLR®-sponsored webinar. She says […]

What Hiring E-Records Should You Keep?

So, you’ve made the switch to all electronic employee records: How do you know what hiring e-records to keep? In a recent BLR webinar, attorney Allen Kato tackled this topic and gave us some advice. Hiring E-Records to Keep Here are the hiring e-records to keep: Job descriptions and job postings. These should identify the […]

Marijuana ‘Gift’ Gets TA Kicked Out of School

We’ve heard of some usual gifts for coworkers, like a bag of ice, a self-recorded CD, and even toilet paper. But those aren’t likely to land you in jail like this Rhode Island teacher assistant. The TA made a big—not to mention illegal—mistake when he allegedly gave his principal some marijuana as a congratulations present. […]

Group Job Interview Turns into Dance Audition

The group interview at the Cardiff, the Wales branch of a U.K. electronics chain, turned from a discussion of qualifications for the job into a dance audition, and the applicants weren’t jumping for joy about it. To show they could think on their feet, applicants were asked to come up with an impromptu routine to […]