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Unwritten rules cause uncertainty in sports and at work

Anyone who follows sports, even on a casual basis, has heard about “unwritten rules.” But the problem with unwritten rules is that sometimes they can be subject to different interpretations and standards. This is because, well, the obvious reason that they aren’t written down for everyone to see.  Take the baseball series this past weekend […]

Supreme Court Strikes Down College Affirmative Action Programs: What Does this Mean for Employers?

On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a historic decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina, effectively ending the use of affirmative action in college admissions. In the 6 to 3 vote, the justices ruled the admission […]

Time to Self-Evaluate—How Many of the 9 Essential HR Skills Do You Have?

This is the 2013 version of our most popular article ever, written in 2006. In no way is our list authoritative, but it is the opinion of people, including BLR® Founder Bob Brady, who’ve spent decades meeting with HR professionals, supporting their goals, and reporting their achievements. You may agree or not with our assessments, […]

Navigating the Sometimes Tricky Terrain of Noncompete Agreements

In a competitive business environment where human talent often represents an organization’s most important asset, noncompete agreements serve as important tools to help companies safeguard their proprietary information and maintain a competitive edge. But these legal contracts, designed to prevent employees from entering into direct competition with their former employers for a specified period after […]

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Seeking Employee Input on New Technology Acquisitions

Implementing the right technology can make a huge difference in a company’s success. Technologies that have strong synergies with the organization and its people can leverage and amplify competitive advantages and set a business apart from its competitors.

Why Your Human Resource Information System is Creating a Compliance Blind Spot

As regulatory expectations continue to expand, organizations are under increasing pressure to prove not only that compliance training exists, but that it is actively managed, consistently applied, and defensible across a complex workforce. The logic is simple: the Human Resources Information System (HRIS)—the software that handles payroll and employee records, is the “source of truth.” […]

Death To All Sacred Cows

Employment law attorney Michael Maslanka reviews the book Death To All Sacred Cows: How Successful Business People Put the Old Rules Out to Pasture by Bill Schwab. Review highlights book theory about how email does not always save and tips for effective use of email. I just finished reading a really funny book, Death to […]

Insights from a CEO: Removing the stigma of HR as a cost center

Consider the human resources department: Is it a center for strategic thinking or a cost center–necessary but still a burden on the bottom line rather than a contributor to profits? That’s one question to explore as HR professionals work to earn the “seat at the table” they’ve long sought. Recently, a group of HR professionals […]

Pay for Performance May Not Support Labor Cost Control

In recent years a growing number of companies have invested a lot of time and effort creating a performance-based compensation system. If yours falls into that category, then sales personnel and managers likely feel a strong link between the company’s overall perfor-mance, their departmental performance, their own individual performance, and their paychecks. Good job! But […]

Workers Leaving Dream Jobs

Whether it’s a Hallmark movie or a slacker-made-good comedy, American popular culture is full of stories about people landing their so-called “dream jobs” and living happily ever after. The idea that doing what one loves is all that matters in a career is romantic yet simplistic. The current labor market is highlighting that reality for […]