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Employment contracts, termination clauses, and itchy trigger fingers

by Bruce R. Grist As there is no employment at will in Canada, most employment lawyers in Canada who act for employers recommend that employers use employment contracts to govern the employee’s relationship with the employer. If there is an employment contract and the employer wishes to terminate the employee’s employment or the employee wishes […]

Talent Management Practices in Need of Attention

A new report finds that while employee engagement and retention are strategic priorities for a majority of U.S. organizations, budgets remain static, presenting a challenge for many employers.

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Would More Favorable Parental Leave Laws Help Boost Workforce Participation?

We hear a lot in the news these days about the historically low unemployment rate, but one figure we don’t hear about nearly as much is the labor force participation rate—the ratio between the size of the labor force and the size of the overall population for that age group, often grouped by cohort (i.e., […]

iPods at Work: Help or Hindrance?

Companies are issuing iPods to workers to enhance training and communications. But along with the benefits have come serious policy questions. Once you mostly saw them dangling from the ears of teenagers hanging out near the local high school. Now you see them worn by the forklift driver in the warehouse, the receptionist on break, […]

What Employers—and Employees—Can Do to Help Close the Skills Gap

That was among the findings of “The Accenture Skills Gap Study,” an online survey of more than 1,000 employed and unemployed workers recently conducted by Accenture (www.accenture.com). The study also found that 52 percent of survey participants have acquired technology skills in the past 5 years, but significantly smaller percentages have updated their problem-solving skills […]

FLSA Lawsuits—Throttle ‘The Big Three’

Wage and hour just shouldn’t be that hard, but the lawsuits keep coming, and the dollar amounts are staggering—especially when class actions amplify fees, fines, and judgments. What’s the problem? A number of factors make wage and hour a challenge: Many of the decisions about overtime, break time, meal time, and hours of work are […]

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Are Job Descriptions a Tedious Waste of Time?

Job descriptions—usually seen as just another task on the to-do list for HR professionals—are generally an underused resource. But you can rely on them for a variety of reasons, including recruiting, performance reviews, reasonable accommodations, and employee classification.

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Welcome to Our Podcast Episode on Recruiting

EPISODE 30 Given the current talent economy, organizations are challenged to consistently attract and retain the right caliber of talent. BLR®, with the kind sponsorship of SilkRoad, has just completed a survey about several interesting aspects of recruiting today. To help us interpret some of the survey data, we’ve asked Alexandra Levit to join us. […]

How Important is it to Provide Training in Conjunction with a Wellness Program?

Training is an essential component of any wellness program. “The education part is big,” says Peggy Cretella, an instructional design manager with Business & Legal Resources. “If you educate people, you empower them to be in charge of their own health” and to make healthier choices. Cretella, who developed the content for the online Wellness […]

Victims of domestic or dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking protected against bias

by Edward Sisson As an employer, you know that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. You also know that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. What you may not know is that those federal […]