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Active listening allows you to hear what is being said

by Dan Oswald When I was in elementary school, it wasn’t unusual for my report card to come home with a note from the teacher at the bottom that read something like, “Danny is well-behaved, but he must learn not to talk so much in class.” I somehow escaped the “Danny” moniker by middle school, […]

Tips for Writing Job Descriptions That Will Attract the Best Candidates

Writing a good job description is a lot more complex and important than it might appear. Whether you are expecting to receive a flood of applicants or going to be searching for just a few candidates, an effective description can make your life so much easier. It’s a bit of an obscure skill and requires […]

Can Denying a Raise Be Retaliation under the ADA?

An example of a potential ADA violation would be an employee who is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from incest who requests reasonable accommodation. Her supervisor then tells the employee’s co-workers about her medical condition. The employee tells the supervisor she intends to complain to HR about his unlawful disclosure of confidential […]

Should You Shift to Electronic Recordkeeping? (Hint: You Already Have)

  E-mail Spreadsheets Website E-documents Presentations Voice mail Payroll And just look at what else is potentially keeping an electronic record: Telephone extension detail Computer/network system log-on, log-off times Scantron® security system details Outlook calendars, notes, to-do lists Private files/journals Papers E-mail Microsoft® Word WordPerfect® Excel® PowerPoint® .pdf files Voice Mail Video clips Photographs .wav […]

3 Things that Say, ‘Please Sue Me’

Still have exit interviews, probationary periods, and sick leave? asks popular speaker Hunter “Please Sue Me” Lott. If you have those, get rid of them, he says. The exit interview was invented by HR, Lott says, and it suggests that our philosophy is, “Let’s spend our time with the crummy employees.” Stop that, says Lott. […]

Quality begins with the people you manage

by Dan Oswald The other day, I was driving through a small town and saw a sign on the side of a building that read, “Nobody ever regrets buying quality.” That got me thinking about quality. Did the proprietor of this business have it right? Does no one ever regret paying for a quality product […]

HR Merger and Acquisition Playbook

By Barbara Mitchell Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were at an all-time high in 2015. There is some indication that they will slow down in 2016 because it is an election year, but probably not by much. However, just because there are a lot of mergers does not mean that they are successful. In fact, at […]

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Supporting Parents in the Workplace: Childcare Benefits

Helping new parents return to the workforce can be a great benefit to employers and employees alike. Making the transition easier can enable more parents to continue working if they choose after expanding their family, benefiting everyone. This can also reduce an employer’s turnover costs and minimize workplace disruption.

Tesla

Customer Service Lessons Learned from Tesla

A challenge many companies face is providing a top-notch customer experience. The reason—particularly for business-to-consumer (B2C) companies with high volumes of customers—is that so many of their customer touch points come in the form of entry-level, low-paid staff, often with high turnover. Teaching these employees the basics, let alone the intricacies, of customer relationship management […]