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3 elements of an effective employment handbook

Employment handbooks should protect employers. “An employee handbook provides communication; it helps you to comply with the law; [and] it provides consistency – it allows you to treat all employees in a consistent manner.” Andrea Paris explained in a recent CER webinar: These are the 3 C’s of an effective employment handbook: communication, compliance, and […]

What the FMLA Requires for Pregnant Employees

Yesterday’s Advisor covered the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA); today, what the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires for pregnant employees plus an introduction to the guide many call the “FMLA Bible.” The PDA applies regardless of how long an employee has worked for you. The FMLA, however, has more eligibility requirements but also more […]

How Do I Know They’re Not Doing the Laundry?

One of the advantages to telecommuting that many organizations are finding is that it forces managers to manage by results rather than by presence, says Fellows, founder and president of WorkLife Performance, Inc. Fellows offered her flex/telecommuting tips at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR and HR Hero. Flex Program Evolution Flex started in early […]

‘Lean’ Into More Effective Training

Just as “Lean” has helped cut waste in manufacturing and other industries, it can help training departments reduce waste and make training more effective, says Todd Hudson. In today’s Advisor, Hudson shows how to apply “Lean” principles to your training program. The basic concept of Lean in the corporate learning context is that “people should […]

Infographic Spotlights Employer Vacation and Sick Time Policies

BLR 2012 Paid Time Off Survey Reveals Employer Practices A new infographic puts the spotlight on employer policies and practices regarding employee vacation time and sick time. The infographic highlights findings from BLR’s 2012 Paid Time Off Survey, conducted among over 800 employers, including how many weeks of vacation exempt and nonexempt employees receive after […]

Performing an EPA checkup

by Sophie E. Zdatny Equal pay for equal work may seem like a no-brainer, but the gender pay gap is still with us almost 50 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act (EPA) in 1963. Nationally, women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. The Vermont Attorney General’s Office (AG) and […]

What to Expect When Your Employee Is Expecting? Pregnancy Discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination charges and lawsuits continue to rise, and no surprise—Many managers still hold out-moded ideas of how to treat pregnant employees, and that’s a recipe for your organization’s next lawsuit. “All pregnant employees should stop work 30 days before their due dates.” “Pregnant women should stay out 6 weeks after the birth.” “I’m not […]

Absence Policies and Leave Administration Lacking Rigor and Framework, Study Says

The widespread use of manual and improvised procedures to measure, mitigate and administer employee absence suggests that many employers are taking substantial compliance risks with regard to the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the ADP Research Institute study, Total Absence Management: Two Decades After the Passage of FMLA. Even though lost productivity due […]

Best Practices for Holidays? Let’s Find Out

By Compensation.BLR.com Editor Robert Brady For years, BLR® has surveyed HR and compensation/benefits professionals to find trends in policy and practice. We appreciate your participation in our series of brief, targeted surveys. Today’s survey topic: Holiday Practices. We’ll publish the results in a future issue, and we’ll also send you a PDF report. (Be sure […]

Corporate Pensions’ Funded Status Continued to Improve in September

Corporate pensions’ September funding levels continued to recover, gaining ground on rising interest rates that reduced the funds’ liabilities. Three benchmark measures of the funded status of typical corporate retirement plans all showed improvement from August and record-low levels recorded earlier this year. Pension liabilities, or benefit obligations, of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit […]