Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Have you ever had an employee miss work only to give you a far-fetched reason for their absence? A recent survey touched on a few odd excuses, like being too distraught after watching The Hunger Games. This SBT reader, who works in the construction industry, had a similar experience. The employee in question had an […]
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. […]
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 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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
In yesterday’s Advisor, we presented the first six of BLR Legal Editor Holly Jones’ top 10 apps to improve HR productivity. Today, four more of her apps, plus an introduction to a unique HR trainer that divides training into handy 10-minute bites. App #7. Checklists and To-Do Lists Apps such as Wunderlist (www.wunderlist.com) and Checkmark […]
Federal agencies just issued new final rules for contingency-based wellness program goals under health reform. If employers offer to give a reward (such as discounted health insurance premiums) to workers who accomplish some kind of biometric goal (a contingency standard), then employers must have a standing “reasonable alternative” to the contingency-based standard, government officials told […]