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Get to the point—the fine art of brevity

by Dan Oswald President Woodrow Wilson was once asked how long it took him to prepare his speeches, and his answer was quite telling. “That depends on the length of the speech,” said Wilson. “If it is a 10-minute speech, it takes me all of two weeks to prepare it; if it is a half-hour […]

financial

Understanding the Importance of Financial Wellness and Training in the Workplace

According to PwC’s 2017 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, 53% of full-time employed adults said that they are stressed about their finances. And nearly one in three employees who were surveyed also claimed that they have been distracted at work on a regular basis because of their personal financial issues—they report spending at least 3 hours […]

Marijuana

Connecticut’s Workplace Protections for Medical Marijuana Trump Federal Law

Employees and job applicants are now further protected from employment discrimination based on their legal use of medical marijuana under Connecticut state law. Recently, a federal district court judge determined that marijuana’s illicit status under federal law doesn’t preempt Connecticut’s explicit workplace protections for the use of medical marijuana.

side gig

Don’t Fear the Side Gig

As you’re scrolling through your e-mail, you notice a LinkedIn notification that one of your top performers has added a new job. Before you send out the bat signal to the recruitment team, you should read this article.

Belonging Means Asking Employees to Be Who They Are

When it comes to creating great diversity, you have to balance the overall drive for diversity with equity and inclusion. According to this issue’s interviewee, the best diversity programs don’t ask employees to fit in; they create spaces for people to be themselves.

rules

The ‘Unwritten Rules’ of Employment

I like watching baseball. Few things in life beat going to a weekday day game during the summer at Oracle Park (or even the Oakland Coliseum). Yet sadly, due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak, Major League Baseball has canceled the remainder of its spring training games and the 2020 regular season will be delayed by at […]

People Are People, Not Human Resources

Oswald, CEO of BLR®, offered his thoughts on leadership and people in a recent edition of The Oswald Letter. Elvis—only his first name is necessary—is still the second best-selling artist of all time (only behind The Beatles), and he’s been dead for more than 35 years! Somehow we elevate these people to godlike status, but […]

10 Most Common Errors in Performance Rating

Pay for performance is the order of the day, but you can’t have pay for performance if you can’t measure performance in a meaningful way. Unfortunately,  there are significant pitfalls to avoid when conducting your performance reviews. In today’s Advisor, we’ll get tips from expert Armstrong on how to make performance appraisals more meaningful for […]

Hurricanes, Tornados, and Wildfires: Who Gets Paid When You Close?

If a company opens two hours late because of a snowstorm, should an employer pay employees who show up earlier because they didn’t hear the announcement? What time does the workday end when employees are given the option to go home because an incident such as a gas leak forces evacuation of the building? What […]