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Don’t Follow HR Policies of ABC’s New ‘Pan Am’

In the opening scene of ABC’s newest fall drama, Pan Am, flight attendants check in for work. Everything from their identical blue suits to the luggage bags emblazed with the Pan Am logo is iconic of the early age of air travel. However, the premiere episode also reveals strict employment standards for Pan Am’s flight […]

More on Coaching vs Mentoring

Mentoring, on the other hand, is far more personal and friendship-based, offering non-judgmental support as a positive role model and focusing on a mentee’s longer term personal development. The mentor makes suggestions. The relationship is neither formally evaluated nor connected to job advancement but rather to personal improvement. According to Lois J. Zachary, President of […]

Correctly Classifying a Worker as an Independent Contractor

by Tracey A. Cullen It’s no news flash that companies must proceed with caution when classifying someone who provides them with services as an independent contractor. Independent contractors are paid flat fees without tax deductions or employment taxes. Employees are paid salaries subject to withholding, FICA, FUTA, and other employment taxes and are protected under […]

Privilege of Dignity: Hospital’s Peer Review Was Protected

Whenever an employer investigates employee misconduct, there’s a chance it will find—and may have to disclose—negative facts. This is true when a hospital investigates the medical conduct of a doctor, or an employer investigates an employee for potential harassment. In both instances, and in the absence of malice, those investigations are protected by the litigation […]

Is the Next Employee Training Topic ‘How to Deal with Drug Dealers’?

Last week we wrote about a blunt finding its way into a customer’s burger. This week, we’re bringing you another restaurant story about drugs changing hands, this time in the other direction, customer to waitress. According to an article in The Oregonian, a couple was dining at a steakhouse restaurant and was closing the tab. […]

Might Doesn’t Make Right, Dwight

This week’s episode — “The Promotion” — had nothing to do with advancement in the workplace. In fact, the only thing it promoted was how to get fired. When the episode ended, I identified five Scranton employees whom David Wallace should discharge if he wants to minimize potential liability: Dwight. He opened the episode fantasizing about placing Jim […]

Right to Disconnect

The age of digital communication has revolutionized the way we live and work, and there have been both good and bad consequences of this revolution. While it’s easier than ever to chat live with Grandma on the other side of the world, even via video, it also means our colleagues and managers can reach us […]

Could a Higher Income Make You a Worse Person?

According to UC Berkeley social psychologist Paul Piff, the wealthier you are the worse you may act. On his website he writes: “Some of my work in this area documents what might be described as an empathy gap between individuals from different social class groups. Specifically, I have been finding that increased wealth and status in […]

Step by Step—Selling Your Ideas to the CFO

Read what your CFO reads, Ahlrichs says, and send article clippings to the CFO to make your case over time. For example, says Ahlrichs, check out: CFO Magazine CFO.com The Economist Ahlrichs, a consultant with Gregory & Appel in Indianapolis, offered his take on CFOs at SHRM’s Annual Convention and Exposition held recently in Chicago. […]