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Employment Applications—What to Avoid!

Has your organization considered your employment application from a legal standpoint? Sure, it needs to have enough questions to get all the information needed to assess the candidate, but what questions may present legal problems or employee privacy issues? Business consultant Bridget Miller has some advice for our readers.

Union or Not, Strikes Happen: What Every Employer Needs to Know

Employee strikes seem to be widespread and frequent these days, occurring in all types of industries and professions: among grocery store workers, baristas, auto workers, teachers, healthcare workers, news reporters, Hollywood writers and actors, the list goes on. With increasing strike activity and an uptick in union organizing even in unconventional union settings, it’s critical […]

How To Get People To Speak Up!

Ever frustrated by the lack of employee engagement? You sense that they want to speak up but, well, just don’t do so. Here are three ideas. Idea No. 1: Do a Pre-mortem on a Project Scientist Gary Klein suggests that every project needs to undergo a pre-mortem. Here’s the process. Take the group that is […]

Job Sharing–The Surprisingly Productive Arrangement

Yesterday’s Advisor busted the part-time employee myth; today, how job sharing can improve productivity, morale, and engagement, plus an introduction to the HR checklist program that helps you find problems before the feds do. Job sharing is a special type of part-time employment in which two or more employees share the duties of a single, […]

Keeping Up with Shifting Employee Needs in Today’s Workplace

Looking back over the last 2-plus years, much has changed in the vast majority of workplaces across the globe. This doesn’t just stop at in-person versus virtual meetings but extends to a total shift in what employees are expecting from their employers, both current and prospective. The reality is that more of us are prioritizing […]

misclassification

Determining Independent Contractors: Sometimes the Government Loses

There’s been an ongoing battle between employers and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) over when someone is considered an independent contractor versus an employee. A recent decision from the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse summary judgment (dismissal without trial) in favor of the DOL gives employers some guidance and reason for […]

DOL

DOL Auto-Portability Approval May Ease Rollovers, Reduce Missing Participants

With the current focus in the retirement plans community on missing and unresponsive 401(k) plan participants, practitioners have sought additional guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to clarify the meaning of a “reasonable search” for participants by an ongoing plan (see August column). As the community waits, plan fiduciaries are reviewing their current […]

Apps for HR—Wunderlist, Dunno, Education, Ambience

In yesterday’s Advisor, we presented the first six of BLR Legal Editor Holly Jones’ top 10 apps to improve HR productivity. Today, four more of her apps, plus an introduction to a unique HR trainer that divides training into handy 10-minute bites. App #7. Checklists and To-Do Lists Apps such as Wunderlist (www.wunderlist.com) and Checkmark […]