HR Blogs

The cost of a bad hiring decision is much greater than the costs associated with recruiting, selecting, and training a new employee. 

A poor hiring decision can create a massive "opportunity cost" in the form of lost revenues and diminished customer goodwill that can far outweigh the "hard costs" of hiring a new employee.

Warning!  After reading this article you may have an uncontrollable urge to cry out: "Hey! I want my $200K Back!"

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[T]he recipe for legally defensible documentation begins with common sense and ends with a consideration of who your audience will ultimately be. Unfortunately, I can't help you with common sense. You either have it or you don't. There is no middle ground. As far as your audience, potentially it could be an EEOC investigator or a jury. That audience will look for a degree of clarity in your documentation that you might not usually employ. 

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Congress is considering legislation that would eliminate secret ballot elections and require mandatory interest arbitration.  Is your business ready to recognize a union without the chance to run its own anti-union campaign?  Or plead its bargaining position before a government-appointed arbitrator?  If you think this sounds bad, you have no idea.

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Businesses concerned the uncertain economy will adversely impact their businesses should act early to evaluate their existing worker classification and other employment practices for opportunities to manage costs and promote efficiency.  For example, a business anticipating a business slowdown that currently employs workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime rules on a salaried, non-exempt basis rather than a straight hourly basis often can reduce costs by converting these employees to a straight hourly pay arrangement.

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In modern society, the issue of treatment of individuals with caregiving responsibilities in the workplace is becoming more and more important.  More employees have some form of caregiving duties than ever before - whether one is talking about single parents, two-parents households where both adults work, or the ever increasing situation where an employee is responsible for the care of elderly or disabled parents or other relatives.  This issue has raised enough concern that the EEOC recently issued a guidance document relating to potential disparate treatment of caregivers in the workplace.  Additionally, a newly-issued case from the 1st Circuit sheds light both on the EEOC's guidance and the issue generally.  In Chadwick v. Wellpoint, Inc., No. 07-70 (D. Me. 5/2/08), the court held that, while there is no such thing as "caregiver discrimination" under federal law, treating employees differently because of traditional sexual stereotypes does constitute actionable sex discrimination under federal law.

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Regardless of whether your state or municipality has enacted a hands-free device law to regulate the use of cell phones while driving a vehicle, your liability as an employer for the vehicular negligence of your employees has increased as a result of the invention of the cell phone.  This is because employees are more likely to be on business calls during off-duty hours, and while driving to and from work now that everyone over the age of ten has a cell phone.

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Leaders today can unintentionally be drawn into conversation regarding younger workers and tight labor conditions, which simply does not solve the challenges present. This piece presents several questions which are helpful in potentially reorienting the conversation.

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HR/OD professionals are often asked to help change a corporate culture. The purpose of this blog is to provide some information about culture from the existing literature as well as provide best practices for diagnosing, mapping, and planning corporate culture change.  With the right tools, HR/OD can truly be a change agent and bring about radical change in the cultures of their organizations.

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Have you ever wanted to tell someone, “Hey, you know I can’t read your mind!”  Actually, I have to admit that I may have even said it aloud a few times to some of those individuals closest to me, but I think I’ve managed to just “think” it in the workplace while I was saying aloud (keeping it politically correct), “We need to keep the lines of communication open – so talk to me and let me know what’s going on.” 

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In addition to the recent military family leave changes to FMLA, employers will be interested in learning about the Department of Labor's decision to update the fifteen-year old regulations in an effort to improve communications among workers, employers, and health care providers.

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Sexual harassment training is no longer a luxury utilized only by those employers who wish to be, or appear, proactive in an effort to promote a positive workplace. Since the Supreme Court's landmark decisions in the 1998 Faragher and Ellerth sexual harassment cases, subsequent court decisions and EEOC Guidelines have demonstrated that sexual harassment training is essential and is not to be viewed as something to be dismissed or taken lightly. Read More

On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act. While this law was primarily intended to address concerns over litigation surrounding the Gulf War, one section of the bill included provisions extending Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protection to close family relatives of uniformed service members. Read More