Archives

Diversity—It’s Hard to Achieve More Than Lip Service

Achieving workplace diversity isn’t easy—even for global powerhouses like Google. “We’re not where we want to be when it comes to diversity,” Google observes in a January 2014 demographic report, which reveals that 70% of Google’s employees are male and 61% are white.

Decoding the Military for Veteran Hiring Success

By Karin A. Vernazza, SPHR, as told to Archana Mehta Three years ago, President Obama announced a challenge to the U.S. private sector — hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013. Many companies nationwide took on that challenge and started veteran-hiring job fairs to attract military talent but […]

Ban the Box Laws: Are You Affected?

‘Ban-the-box’ laws are laws that say you cannot have a question on your application that asks ‘do you have a criminal conviction?’ Typically, applications will ask for an explanation or description if the answer was yes. This forces immediate disclosure.

Avoid These Ugly Preemployment Pitfalls

In yesterday’s Advisor, we reviewed the good and the bad of preemployment inquiries; today, we take a look at some of the just plain ugly questions that you should never even think of asking.

IRS Adjusts Voluntary Correction Program, Including Fees

IRS on March 27 released a series of changes to its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System that it said would improve the correction programs. Among the modifications to Revenue Procedure 2013-12  announced are new options for correction methods to recoup participant overpayments and lower compliance fees for participant plan loan errors. The 17-page Rev. Proc. […]

Preemployment Inquiries: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When a company first meets with a prospective candidate, it’s not just the interviewee who needs to be on his or her toes. Interviewers must be careful to ask the right questions, not just to ensure they’re making the right hire but also to avoid legal entanglements.

New OFCCP rule on sexual orientation, gender identity takes effect April 8

by Emily L. Bristol A new rule that adds “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of prohibited bases of discrimination under Executive Order 11246 goes into effect on April 8. The rule, from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), will apply to federal contractors that hold […]

Business lessons from WrestleMania 31

The biggest sports entertainment event of the year is in the books. Did you miss it? Nope, I’m not talking about the NCAA Tournament or even the Cricket World Cup—by the way, you can rest easy since Australia beat New Zealand by 7 wickets to capture its 5th Championship—I’m talking about WrestleMania 31. Yes, the […]

Are You Following These 5 Tips for Your HAZWOPER Training?

In today’s and tomorrow’s Advisors, we will look at 10 actions that our sister publication, Environmental Daily Advisor, recommends facility operators take to more effectively manage Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training for their employees.

10 Flaws of a Typical Performance Management System

Many organizations will most likely say they utilize a performance management system but far fewer will admit that it’s not actually achieving its original goals. Namely, performance management systems often fail in motivating better employee performance!