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Curiosity Belongs at Work

My daughter is 3 years old, so the word “Why?” is a frequent flyer in her vocabulary. While irksome, I do my best to answer her with honesty. Why? Because I want her to be curious. I want her to naturally learn about the world around her, even if it means diving into a “Why?” […]

Navigating Immigration Changes in 2025: What to Know After the 2024 Election

As the dust settles from the 2024 U.S. presidential election, businesses with a significant international workforce are bracing for potential shifts in immigration policy. Former President Donald J. Trump’s return to office signals a likely shift toward more restrictive immigration measures, similar to his first administration’s policies and perhaps more expansive. With immigration playing a […]

Train Managers to Be Proactive

Jathan Janove is an employment lawyer whose book, Managing to Stay out of Court (Berrett-Koehler/Society for Human Resource Management), includes the following proactive management tips that you can teach your managers and supervisors. ‘That Was Then, This Is Now’ is a good way to effect change in an organization. Grant amnesty for all past mistakes […]

When Can You ‘Clarify’ or ‘Authenticate’ an FMLA Cert?

Authentication and Clarification of Medical Certifications Employers are entitled to authenticate or clarify information received on a medical certification form. It is important to note that the definitions of what constitutes permissible authentication and clarification are very limited. “Authentication” means providing the healthcare provider with a copy of the medical certification and requesting verification that […]

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Who Let the Dogs in? Handling Requests for Service Animals at Work

It seems like I’m seeing more and more people with service animals—particularly “comfort animals” meant to ease anxiety or similar problems. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers must provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees with disabilities. Does that mean you must allow disabled employees to bring their pets to work? Well, it depends.

Succession Planning—Different Ballgame in 2012

Traditionally, succession planning focused on an orderly transition at the top of the company. Today the focus is on dealing with the coming “brain drain” most companies will experience as baby boomers begin to retire. To get a better handle on what’s new in succession planning, we turned to BLR’s newly-published Top 10 Best Practices […]

Expressions of Faith in the Workplace

Q:I have a couple of employees who just started using religious expressions (e.g., “God bless” and “Your friend in God”) in their e-mails. Another employee is offended by the e-mails and wants me to make them stop. Any words of wisdom? A: In addition to prohibiting religious discrimination in the workplace, Title VII of the […]

Comp Thinking That Pleases the CFO and the CEO

Rather than basing promotions and their associated salary increases on acquired knowledge and certifications, says Epps, who is managing partner of EP2S Compensation Solutions, LLC, base them on competencies. A competency-based job evaluation system is a method of structuring and evaluating broadly defined jobs based on a demonstrated level of job complexity and job accountability, […]

Training Is Not a Silver Bullet

We talk a lot about the importance of training, and it certainly is important; however, we thought it would be appropriate to address a common pitfall many organizations encounter when it comes to employee development and organizational change: adhering to the misconception that training is a silver bullet to solve company ills.