Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
I’ve gotten hints and heard rumors through the grapevine about inappropriate activity going on in my company. In one case, a manager is allegedly “hitting on” a subordinate, and in another case, apparently employees are making fun of a co-worker on their project team because she is African-American. I don’t have any evidence or corroboration, […]
I think that all documentation should be kept in the HR department, but supervisors like to have copies for their desk files. What are the pitfalls of allowing supervisors to keep employee files at their desks? What practices can you recommend?— Stanley, HR Manager in Santa Barbara
We have a training program that involves five years of rotating assignments before employees are ready to really start the job. And it is a few years after that before they start to actually contribute significant profits. Because we have to invest so much in their training, can we have an age cutoff, such as […]
We are seeing a need to engage in more intensive monitoring and surveillance of our employees’ tech equipment use. I want to get a new draft policy circulating. What should I include?— Sally E., HR Manager in Sausalito
After discussing discipline with an employee, we always ask the person to sign the disciplinary form so there is a record that we talked with the employee about the issue. Quite often, the person refuses to sign. What do we do if an employee sues us someday? Would a court accept a document that has […]
An employee’s ex-spouse calls me when she needs a new insurance card, forms, etc., for their child rather than contacting the insurance company or her ex. I’m tired of being put in the middle and feel this is something that should be handled between the two individuals. If she had a problem with an issue […]
In every issue, we take one reader’s question and ask our other readers to weigh in. Here’s what you had to say about a recent question:
Many of our employees believe that their married co-worker—I’ll call him “Bob”—is having a romantic relationship with a woman who cleans our offices. This woman works for a cleaning company we’ve hired to come in three times a week. I’ve received complaints about their public displays of affection (although I’m not sure about the details) […]