Archives

Hot List: BusinessWeek’s Bestseller List

BusinessWeek magazine ranks the 15 best selling hardcover and paperback business books for June 2009 and  gives a short summary. 1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. As you’d expect with Gladwell, there are lots of surprises in his explanation of why some people succeed fantastically. Pluck and smarts get less play here […]

The Role of Diversity in Fall of Chrysler

By Sarah McAdams Embracing diversity and inclusiveness is not only the right thing to do — it also, of course, makes good business sense. When we think about organizational diversity, we usually first consider the individual level. We want to make sure, for instance, that your gay/Mormon/Asian/disabled/female worker feels that her ability to work productively […]

DOL Offers Disabled Job Candidate Database

The Department of Labor (DOL) has made available to employers a free database of nearly 2,000 job candidates with disabilities seeking employment in a wide variety of fields. The Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with Disabilities compiled the database by sending recruiters to college campuses across the country to interview eligible undergraduate and postgraduate […]

Mr. Mom: A Personal Encounter with Stereotypes

Just in time for Father’s Day, employment law attorney Barbara Goodwin reflects on what are considered the “traditional” family roles and reminds employers not to make the mistake of stereotyping men and women and their caregiving responsibilities. I’m a working mother. I had my first child about 10 days after graduating from law school and […]

He Doesn’t Talk Like Us

By Charlie S. Plumb As the diversity of our workforce expands, it isn’t unusual for companies to have employees with different cultural backgrounds. In some cases, that may mean your employees speak different languages or sometimes have difficulty communicating. Remember, however, that expressing your concern about an employee’s language capabilities can sometimes lead to an […]

The 10 Questions You Must Ask Before Firing

Faced with a firing, managers are typically upset and uncomfortable. They want to just “get it over with.” Stop right there. Slow them down, and ask these 10 questions first. Otherwise, you’re likely headed for an expensive lawsuit. Here are the 10 questions BLR® experts recommend you ask before any termination. If your answer to […]

Take a Vacation from Smartphones and Overtime Laws

by Sarah McAdams Do you keep your personal Blackberry or iPhone on your bedside table, yanking yourself from deep sleep every time a new message dings in? You’re not alone, sad addict. I, for instance, am typing this on a Saturday at a picnic table in my backyard. For years, employers have most frequently issued […]

Take Extra Care When Firing or Laying Off Disabled Employees

As a result of the recent economic crisis, many employers have been faced with the unpleasant task of laying off workers. But what happens when one of those employees is disabled? We recently received a question addressing that very issue. The situation involved a severely disabled part-time worker who was hired to stuff envelopes as […]

Symbolism and the C-Suite: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

For the last decade, big companies and the people who run them have been some of the most despised and least trusted in America. In the 80s and 90s, “greed was good” as everyone benefited from a skyrocketing stock market. No one much cared what was going on in those big companies as long as the […]

Spotting Your Michaels (and Dwights)

After watching last night’s repeat of The Office, I decided that some of my clients’ stories this week were more titillating. That’s what she said. (Couldn’t resist.) The theme of calls that I got this week almost made me feel like I was on the show. I looked for cameras (and Ashton and Howie) more […]