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Miss Utah and the Equal Pay Act

by Boyd Byers She didn’t win the crown, but Miss Utah, Marissa Powell, made the most news during the Miss USA pageant this summer. Her bungled response to a question about the gender pay gap went viral and was seen by millions on the Internet. But her response also generated serious discussion about equal pay.  […]

Military downsizing presents opportunity, challenge for employers

A thread running through a succession of news stories is sending a clear message to employers: The military is shrinking its ranks and the pressure is on civilian employers to hire more veterans.  U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced new downsizing plans for the nation’s armed forces in February, explaining that budget cuts are […]

9 Rules for Dealing with Attendance Problems

Every organization has them—employees who push every attendance policy to the extremes. Here are 9 ways to put a stop to their shenanigans. The vast majority of supervisors’ day-to-day HR problems relate to attendance, says Bob Gibson, blogging on Fedsmith.com But too many managers tend to be casual about it. That won’t work, says Gibson. Managers […]

Survey Says: Make Leadership Development a Training Priority

“The Rising Risk of a Double-Dip Leadership Crisis: A Pulse Survey on Exploring the Increased Focus on Leadership Development” found that Fortune 1000 companies do not have enough leaders coming up through their ranks to fill existing and future leadership roles—partly due to recessionary cuts made to leadership programs. In fact, 62% of respondents surveyed […]

Employees Hate Each Other? Readers Disagree with Our Suggestion

In his e-pinion on this page a few weeks ago, Dan Oswald suggested that when two employees hate each other, the best course may be keeping the most valuable employee and firing the other one. Most readers didn’t agree. Oswald’s original story is found here in The Oswald Letter. The full text of all the […]

Arm Chair Manager: What Sports Can Teach Us About Management

One of the reasons I enjoy sports is the human dynamic at work in every sporting endeavor. At different times and in different sports, an athlete may do battle with another competitor, the elements, or even with himself and his will. This fascinates me. What’s more, an athlete often has to deal with teammates, a […]

Tips for Minimizing Risk When Cutting Labor Costs

by Mark Wiletsky Although we’re beginning to see signs of an economic recovery, many organizations are still grappling with how to stay competitive in this challenging environment. Layoffs, furloughs, and other methods used to cut personnel costs are often part of the equation. But the savings gained by those cost-cutting measures can be lost if […]

Looking for employees? Digital profiles make window shopping convenient

Expensive, important investments typically send people to the internet. House hunters turn to websites and social media platforms to help them find the right home in the right neighborhood at the right price. Car buyers, too, take to the internet to find just the right vehicle. So if digital tools are vital for consumers making […]