Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
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 […]
‘Surely They Know What I Want’ Managers and supervisors don’t like confronting their employees about performance problems so they tend to assume that employees are aware that they are not doing an acceptable job. Unfortunately, employees don’t think that way. They assume that everything is fine unless they are told otherwise. Then if there’s a […]
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 […]
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 […]
By Andy AndrewsJust My E-pinion Can an employee do his or her job too well? If so, what do you do? Praise? Raise? Discipline? Terminate? Today’s guest columnist tells the true story of Foster, who did his job too well. I met him at least 8 years ago at the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. He […]
By Susan Schoenfeld, JD It’s been over 2 years since the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage in the case of U.S. v. Windsor and a year since the Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, required states to issue marriage licenses for same-sex marriages and to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state. So, […]
Remote work and digital nomadism have been on the rise for the past few years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend. More and more people are realizing they can remain productive even without commuting to a physical office and that working from home or from anywhere in the world can be just […]
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)—called a godsend by some and seriously flawed by others—may be in for a bit of an overhaul.
Closing down a plant or laying off employees is a big decision for an organization, and it directly impacts the lives of all of the employees involved. Giving employees ample notice of such a transition is the idea behind the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
Benefits experts have estimated the expected average increase in employer health insurance premiums from 2019 to 2020, and the consensus hovers around a 6.5% year-on-year rise. This is up from recent years when the average year-on-year increase varied from 3%–4%. Why is this?