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Roth 401(k) Accounts Add Value Through Tax Diversification

by Lisa Higgins, Contributing Editor Have you given your employees every opportunity to reach a secure retirement? There is one simple strategy you may not be using that could make a real difference: the Roth account. According to a survey from Willis Towers Watson, Capturing the Opportunity of Roth 401(k) Contributions, What Employees Are Missing […]

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 […]

Second City Says Humor Drives Engagement in Workforce Training

The stellar alumni list includes many of the original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” (Akyroyd, Belushi, Murray, and Radner), as well as Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jane Lynch, and Steve Carrell of “The Office.” But now, the organization has branched out into workplace training, using humor to engage participants, of course. “Humor gets people […]

Awards Season

The Golden Globes were canceled, and it isn’t looking so good for the Oscars. So, in the spirit of the awards season, I have decided to give out a few awards of my own. And I’d like to invite all of you to be the Academy. My first category is “Best Plaintiff in an Employment-Based […]

In Search of (Divine) Comedy

Last week’s post lamented the August heat (call it an inferno) many parts of the country are enduring, while looking ahead wistfully to the promised land (call it a paradise) of a new season for The Office.  In the midst of this entertainment limbo, I took the suggestion of a fellow blogger and sought inspirational […]

Instant Gratification for HR Managers!

By Stephen D. Bruce, PHR Editor, HR Daily Advisor We’re very excited to announce our just-launched Instant Solutions Resource Center! It’s the faster, more flexible, more affordable way to solve your HR problems. Visit our instant download site and purchase only what you need—from in-depth focus reports to a single policy—and you get it at […]

Checklist for Avoiding Wellness Program Legal Entanglements

Yesterday’s Advisor featured attorney Mark Jones on how wellness programs get into legal trouble. Today, his checklist for avoiding legal hassles, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one website, HR.BLR.com®. Jones, who is a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Los Angeles, offered his wellness guidance at a recent Benefits Boot Camp sponsored by […]

Translating Hiring Criteria into a Postable Paragraph

Yesterday’s Advisor showed how to clarify what you are looking for in a candidate; today, how to translate that into candidate terms, plus an introduction to BLR’s handy HR audit guide. Translating into Candidate Terms Now you have to translate your desires into concrete terms that you can use in a posting, an ad, or […]

Encouraging New Managers to Express Emotions

The descriptor “emotional” often has a negative connotation, especially in the workplace. It can conjure up images of someone who lacks control, loses his or her temper, and lacks sound judgment. But Kristi Hedges, in an article for Harvard Business Review, notes that this association—and the corresponding reluctance to show emotion in the workplace—can actually […]

Organized labor’s knockout punch

by John Neighbours Following the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) election loss at Volkswagen’s (VW) automobile plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka declared, “That was just round one” in organized labor’s southern strategy. From my perspective that is nothing more than “making lemonade out of lemons.”  Transplant automobile manufacturers have been locating plants throughout […]