Archives

leadership

Leadership: The Value of ‘Did You Get That Figured Out?’

The term “micromanagement” has a negative connotation and for good reason. In general, people don’t like to have someone literally or figuratively looking over their shoulder while they perform their work. At the same time, managers are often faced with employees who—for a variety of reasons—ask for more help in performing relatively straightforward tasks.

Return

HR Considerations for Bringing Employees Back to the Workplace

When the COVID-19 virus started making headlines at the start of 2020, American observers watched as the disease spread beyond the borders of China and started impacting specific regions of the United States. As the numbers of domestic infections continued to grow, some organizations started talking about closing their offices and asking staff to work […]

payroll

Payroll Tax Deferrals—What Should Employers Do?

Earlier this summer, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order directing Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin to defer the withholding, deposit, and payment of certain payroll taxes beginning September 1 through the end of 2020. The order left several important questions open and directed the Treasury to issue guidance to implement the order.

hiring

Will COVID-19 Impact Holiday Hiring?

The hunt for holiday talent would normally be well underway in “normal” circumstances, but given the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve come to expect that nothing is “normal” these days, and that can be said for holiday hiring, as well.

automation

Designing Workplace Culture in the New Normal, Automation-Driven Era

We are unexpectedly in the middle of a new transformation in the way we work. It was always expected that by the end of 2021, nearly half of all global businesses would use robotic process automation (RPA), software “bots” that work side by side with humans and automate the manual, repetitive work we do. But […]

Remote

Making Connections in a Virtual World: Creating a Remote Internship Program

For Webster Bank, the decision to retain our summer intern program was easy. The program is a pipeline to future bankers, and it is part of an overall corporate strategy to promote career growth and development among all of our bankers. We also decided that if we were going to move ahead with the program, […]

discrimination

4th Circuit Lets Facebook Employee’s Race Claim Proceed

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, recently held a trial court erred in dismissing a Facebook employee’s claim he was turned down for a promotion based on his race. The case demonstrates why promotion decisions should be made according to clear, written guidelines […]

information

Leadership: The Risk of Giving Too Much Information to Staff

In the modern workplace, companies increasingly encourage transparency with employees. For example, by keeping staff up to date on dynamic situations like COVID-19 impacts to the company, economic concerns, or even potential layoffs, companies can avoid stirring up the rumor mill or creating additional anxiety.