Author: Stephen Bruce, PhD, PHR

Alcoholism Policies and Accommodations –What DOL Recommends

Yesterday’s Advisor looked at alcoholism in the workplace. Today we continue with specific accommodation tips and an introduction to a program that has already written your alcoholism policy, plus 100s of others. Yesterday, we noted that under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if alcoholism limits any of an employee’s major life activities, it could […]

Drunk and Disorderly–Do You Have to Accommodate Alcoholism?

One minute it’s acceptable social drinking at a business function; the next, it’s unacceptable drunkenness embarrassing to the company. How do you deal with alcoholism? By government estimates, nearly 14 million Americans abuse alcohol or are alcoholic, and millions more are close to being so. That means, odds are, some of them are working for […]

Should the 6-Month Performance Evaluation Be the ‘Real Deal’?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Most companies consider the end-of-year performance appraisal the crucial one. But BLR’s CEO advances a different idea. I experienced a “duh” moment a while attending the 6th Annual NY HR Week. Gary Koca, vice president of GRA, Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland, was speaking on the (ever-engaging) topic, “Performance […]

Conflict Resolution: Your Supervisors’ Hidden Responsibility

Conflict resolution. Sometimes it seems that’s all we do. Today, we follow up on yesterday’s story on mediation, and present a new audio conference that helps line supervisors and managers learn how to do it right. With the high costs of litigation, mediation is an increasingly popular way to deal with conflicts at work. However, […]

Mediation: Shorter, Faster, Less Expensive: What’s Not to Like?

Mediation is getting a second look from companies concerned about hair-raising judgments and settlements from traditional court disputes. Should your organization be looking, too? Mediation is a simple concept, says The Justice Center of Atlanta: “Bring both sides of a dispute together. With the assistance of a neutral mediator, enable them to speak their mind […]

How to Avoid FRD Claims–Step by Step

For better or worse, the American workplace is different than it was, and perhaps also different from how we want it to be. HR managers have to bridge the gap, says attorney Christopher Leh. People want the workforce to be a family, where managers and employees can talk about anything and everything. But the fact […]