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Family Business Ends Up in Court

A family-owned business recently got tangled up in a lawsuit when the HR manager accused her brother, one of the vice presidents, of having an illicit affair with a subordinate employee that created “sexual favoritism” in the workplace. Did she have a case? Here’s what happened. “Sandra” worked as an HR manager in Howard I. […]

Good Grief—Guess Who Misspelled the Employer Name in a Job Description

Sure, you’ve seen typos and misspellings in a job description, and you think they could have just run spell-check. But did you ever see the name of the employer misspelled? This could just be a minor embarrassment to an employer and something that could quickly be corrected. The Hartford Courant Capitol Watch blog reports that […]

Pay Budgets 2013/2014–What’s Really Happening?

Pay budget—always one of the most critical decisions of the year. What’s happening with pay budgets in the real world? How about bonuses? What are your competitors up to? Help us find out! Please participate in our brief survey and see how what you are doing stacks up against what other successful companies are doing. […]

Time to say goodbye (for now)

Series Litigation Value: various harassment, discrimination, and bizarre workers’ compensation matters = astronomical; future employment matters due to Dwight taking over as Regional Manager = enough to keep Dunder Mifflin’s attorneys busy for many years to come; seeing the older, hopefully wiser, family man version of Michael in the final episode = priceless. After years […]

New regulations change details on workplace wellness programs

Final rules from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on employment-based wellness programs raise the maximum reward that may be offered by certain wellness programs and expand nondiscrimination protections for sick employees. The final rules under President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act were issued May 29 and will be effective […]

Small Data May Help More than Big Data, Despite the Hype

Can big data solve your HR problems? The important thing to remember is that the basis of big data is statistics, and you have to be careful interpreting results. So-called confounding variables may muddy the waters. For example: History can intervene. The measurement may have been accurate, but things changed during the measuring period and […]

Do Your Trainers Know These 6 Things About SPCC?

At the 2013 National Institute for Storage Tank Management’s (NISTM) recent storage tank conference, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave a really detailed, 3-hour review of SPCC regulations and best practices. Here are some things I picked up that I bet you didn’t know about the SPCC. 1.  Emergency and  backup generators count toward […]

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Classroom Training

Although technology-based training is becoming increasingly popular, training experts agree that it will never completely replace classroom training. At present, an overwhelming number of companies continue to use classroom training alongside an increasing amount of technology-based training, such as e-learning and computer-based training. Today, there is an array of techniques, methods, activities, and training aids […]

How Effective Are Your Trainers in Classroom Settings?

Classroom training is a workplace learning strategy that removes employees from the work area and brings them together in a safe and appropriate environment, free from distractions, to teach skills, transfer information and knowledge, shape attitudes and behavior, and build competencies. Training in the classroom, of course, is only one of many workplace training options. […]

When Opportunity Knocks, Will You Open the Door?

Oswald, CEO of BLR, offered these thoughts on Lincoln, leadership, and opportunity in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter: It’s Lincoln’s second item—opportunities will present themselves—that I believe is most overlooked by those supposedly seeking opportunity. Often we are looking so hard for a certain opportunity or for opportunity to look a specific way […]