Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Hostile work environments have the potential to cost businesses thousands or millions of dollars every year due to costs associated with employee turnover, presenteeism, and absenteeism, as well as costs associated with settling or litigating harassment lawsuits.
LITIGATION VALUE: $300,000+ Thank god for damage caps. No matter how well intentioned, throwing a “welcome back” party for your Mexican-American employee by decorating the break room with piñatas, paper sombreros and streamers in the colors of the Mexican flag is not a good idea. Ever. Under no set of circumstances. Sure, Michael (and the […]
Few institutional practices are as old, or have been hated as long, as the performance review. Job ratings were used (and criticized) in China as early as the third century; in the early 1800s, an owner of cotton mills in Scotland hung color-coded wooden blocks over employees’ workstations to indicate their merit. The bureaucratic corporate […]
What seemed to many like a temporary shift to remote work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched out for almost a year, with no end in sight. As companies look deep into 2021 when considering when and even if to bring staff back to the office, it’s important for companies to be […]
It’s essential that training materials stay current. Most people cringe when they see out-of-date training materials—and rightfully so.
by Daniel B. Gilmore If an employee is admittedly ineligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) but his employer mistakenly informs him that he is eligible before he takes leave, should the employer be prevented from denying his request? The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed that question and […]
We know it when we see it—the drama that insidiously creeps into our workplaces, chipping away at morale, well-being, productivity and, yes, the bottom line. This drama can include both gossiping about co-workers and undermining institutional change. In other words, workplace drama is everything that commandeers mental energy, directing it away from the organization’s mission […]
For example: If salespeople don’t view your program as competitive, your best salespeople will seek greener pastures. If salespeople don’t view your program as fair, there will be morale issues. (For example, if plans aren’t carefully thought through, some territories may experience a high volume of easy sales, while other territories have little opportunity to […]
It’s that time of year again—no, not back to school time. It’s CareerBuilder’s annual list of strangest job interviews, and HRSBT couldn’t be any more excited! If you’ll recall, 2016’s list was filled with stolen family photos, psychic mediums, and pet birds. So what does this year have in store?
Q We have an employee who recently passed away. He wasn’t married, didn’t have a will, and didn’t have company life insurance or death benefits. How do we handle his final paycheck? Do we continue with our regular payroll procedures, should we wait for the beneficiary for his estate to be identified, or something else? […]