Month: November 2013

Violence Prevention: Plain Talk, No Emotion

While most organizations have a fairly robust emergency plan for fire, natural disasters, and spills, they often don’t have a very robust plan for “purposeful emergencies,” that is, violent incidents. And that’s a mistake, says consultant Dick Sem, CPP CSC. Sem’s general observations: Badly handled or emotional discipline, refusal of service, or termination often trigger […]

text message

Texting TA Shares Too Much with Math Students

We’ve all heard about it happening. One way or another, someone sends a message that wasn’t supposed to go out. The thing about technology—text, e-mail, voice mail, and the like—once you send it, there’s no easy way to retrieve it. Sometimes it’s adding the wrong recipient, other times it’s including the wrong content. Take for […]

Most Workers Feel ‘Off-Course’ in Current Job

A majority of working Americans consider their current job “off-course,” according to a new poll. Depending on your company, this could be a sign of dangerous waters ahead. The poll, conducted by Monster.com, reveals that more than 56 percent of respondents consider their current job “not on course at all” with their career visions. For […]

Are Your Safety Trainers Effective?

Charlotte Grove and Denise Augustine described the basic delivery methods for effective EHS training. Their presentation was modeled on the new American National Standard Institute/American Society of Safety Engineers Z490.1 Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training. The first criterion for ensuring effective delivery is to make sure the trainer is qualified. […]

Outsourcing, Offshoring: Bane or Benefit?

What Is Outsourcing? Outsourcing is the contracting of an internal business process to a third party organization, says Letke, who is founder and CEO of Integrity HR, Inc., in Louisville, Kentucky. She offered her tips at BLR’s Strategic HR Leadership Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. What’s the Difference Between Outsourcing and Offshoring? The two terms are […]

Tough terminations: Handling the fallout

Firing an employee—especially a longtime employee who seems to be a loyal, hardworking asset to the employer—is never easy. But policies exist for a reason, and when they’re broken tough decisions need to be made. A recent termination of an employee apparently trying to do the right thing has sparked headlines and illustrates the dilemma […]

Engagement and Enablement—Keys to Comp Effectiveness

Yesterday’s Advisor featured consultant Tom McMullen’s take on the new total rewards; today, he lays out the drivers that get your employees to engagement. McMullen is Reward Practice Leader for Hay Group in Chicago. He was joined by Dow Scott, professor of Human Resources in the Quinlan School of Business Administration at Loyola University Chicago […]

Planning Ahead for Health Care Reform: 2014

Employers — particularly those that sponsor self-funded plans — have important health care reform mandates to comply with in January 2014, many of which are unaffected by the Obama administration’s stay in enforcement of the pay-or-play rules. There is still time for employers to get their health care reform fixes right. The job is more […]

Disabilities: Possible accommodations for chemical sensitivities

Millions of individuals suffer from allergies or asthma, which can be exacerbated by common environmental agents, such as pollen, dust, latex, nuts, ink, toner, cleaning supplies, fingernail polish, lotions, cologne, and more. Since many of the offending substances are regularly found in workplaces, employers must understand their duty to accommodate those who develop an aversion to odors and allergies in the workplace