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Office Etiquette: What Was Unacceptable Is Now Mostly Fine

Remember when having non-traditional hair colors made someone unemployable at most places? Things have changed quite a bit with the passage of time. New research shows exactly what managers in the U.S. think of everything etiquette related, from pets in the workplace to visible tattoos.

Family And Medical Leave: Employer Can’t Reduce “Stay Bonus” Because of Family Leave; Avoid Bonus Traps

Suppose your company is undergoing a merger, and employees are offered a bonus for promising to stay on for a certain period of time—perhaps three or six months—during the rocky transition period. Do you have to pay the full bonus to an employee who goes out on family leave for some of that period? A […]

Never Say Never, and Never Say These 4 Things

[Go here for killer phrases 1 to 6.] 7. AVOID: “… don’t you think?”  Or, “… isn’t it?” Or “… okay?”  To convey a confident commanding presence, eliminate validation questions. Make your statement or recommendation with certainty and avoid tacking on the unnecessary approval-seeking question.  Don’t say, “This would be a good investment, don’t you […]

The Domino Effect: How to Plan for and Execute a Successful Reorganization

In today’s fast-paced and increasingly volatile economic climate, layoffs are too often the start of the reorganization conversation rather than the outcome of a collaborative and purposeful decision-making process. These layoff decisions, when isolated from a larger restructuring strategy, can sometimes create a “domino effect” of unintended consequences, leading to more problems for the company […]

Faces of HR: Patty Bedard on Leading with Empathy, Compassion and Your Authentic Self

Patty Bedard spent the early years of her career working as an operator in the restaurant business. Not long after, she transitioned to the corporate side of business, leading a management university. From there, she joined Hilton Worldwide, and for nearly a decade, she held a myriad of leadership roles driving human capital strategic initiatives. […]

procrastination

5 Steps to Break Through the Noise and Hold Employees’ Attention

I suspect I’m not alone in noticing that employees live in a cacophony of content. They have dozens of tabs open in their browsers and pages upon pages of inbound e-mails, and plenty of research shows they’re behind on reading—and that’s just with respect to their day-to-day work. Internal HR and business operations content simply […]

conflict

Predicting and Preventing Conflict on a Mission to Mars

Most professionals are well aware of the fact that interpersonal conflict can have major negative impacts on the success of a team project. That can lead to frustration, poor morale, project delays, and failed objectives in any organization. But few team projects in corporate America are as high stakes as a manned mission to Mars. […]