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Rafting the Ocoee

Running the Rapids: Workplace Lessons from the Ocoee

Dan is busy working on his presentation for the Advanced Issues Employment Symposium so he decided to share this column written by business communications consultant Chip Cruze. by Chip Cruze Over the Labor Day weekend, my family and I went whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. What a rush! Diving into those rapids in that […]

Finetuning ‘Fiduciary’ — DOL taking Another Stab at Definition

Thanks to President Obama’s executive order on revisiting federal regulations, and likely a flood of comments from the employee benefits community, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is scratching its proposed rule on the definition of fiduciary and will be issuing a revised one in early 2012. In what likely could be considered an understatement, […]

Huffington: Look in the Mirror, HR

In yesterday’s Advisor, Sir Richard Branson riffed on HR and management. Today, Arianna Huffington and Michael J. Fox echo some of Sir Richard’s ideas and add a few of their own. Huffington (of Huffington Post fame) posits three basic instincts in the pursuit of happiness—survival, sex, and power—and adds a fourth—doing something for others. That […]

Pay Budget Survey Indicates Modest Rises for 2012 and 2013

BLR’s 2012-2013 Pay Budget Survey results suggest modest increases for another year, with 40% of employers awarding merit increases of up to 2.5%, 36.5% awarding increases of more than 2.5% and 2% awarding increases above 5%. Among employers awarding merit increases in 2012, the most commonly cited increases ranged from 2.5% to 3.0%. This corresponds […]

SHRM 2011: Helping Employees Lighten Up, Part 2

In giving SHRM attendees four tips to promote healthy living among employees to help them lose weight, I’m sure corporate health strategist Adam Bordes was aware that many attending his session, “Lighten Up: Daily Strategies for a Lighter, Healthier Workplace” will be using these steps themselves – I certainly will. Bordes’ tips can be divided […]

Tip Nine: Find Patterns

-Look for obvious abuse patterns, such as the “Monday/Friday syndrome. You are entitled to ask for recertification of a claimed medical problem if “the employer receives information that casts doubt on the stated reason for the leave,” say the regulations. A Monday/Friday absence pattern is considered evidence to cast that doubt, and you can bring […]

Terminating Employees: New “Cal/WARN” Law Imposes Broad Layoff Notice Requirements

Gov. Davis has signed into law state layoff notice requirements similar to those in the federal WARN Act—but broader. We’ll explain what you need to know about the new state law, which we’ll call “Cal/WARN.” Federal WARN Coverage The existing federal WARN Act applies to employers with more than 100 workers. And notice under WARN […]

How HR can help employees overwhelmed by holiday stress

by Michael G. McCourt We now are fully involved in the crush of festivities and holiday shopping that traditionally mark the beginning of the sprint to New Year’s Eve. This is the season of peace on earth and good will toward our fellow man, right? Not always. A Challenging Season The holidays have the uncanny […]

Does Your Website Engage or Enrage Potential Candidates?

In yesterday’s Advisor, we offered Gerry Crispin’s examples of great recruiting websites. Today, Crispin evaluates the visitor’s experience on your recruiting website, and we look at a program for dealing with the most basic recruiting tool of all, the essential job description. For a good example of a company that is getting its branding and […]

Rise in Mental Health Parity Enforcement Calls for Review of Plan Documents, Practices

By David Slaughter, JD, Senior Legal Editor Enforcement of mental health parity requirements is on the upswing, so plan sponsors and administrators need to be reexamining their plan documents and claims review processes for signs that mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are being handled differently from other coverage.