Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
As the holiday season approaches, employers and employees are beginning to anticipate holiday bonuses. Whether they come in the form of material gifts, cash awards or other benefits, employers should be careful in providing them, because sometimes bonuses must be included in the employee’s pay rate. Although “improper bonus” cases are not common, they still […]
In a recent CER webinar titled “Exempt v. Non-Exempt in California: How to Evaluate Classifications to Determine If Employees are Entitled to Overtime,” Mark J. Jacobs and Ryan D. Wheeler outlined some guidance for California employers regarding proper employee classifications and correct calculations of overtime pay. They kindly lent their expertise to answer questions from […]
Reassigning a salesperson to a new sales territory after her return from maternity leave does not violate the core principles of job restoration under the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to a recent U.S. district court decision. As long as the proposed change did not result in a base salary reduction or more burdensome […]
SPIFs are also a little like heroin, Dimisa says: The more you get the more you want, and it’s difficult to kick the habit. It’s hard to take the SPIFFs away. DiMisa is Senior Vice President, Sales Effectiveness Practice Leader for Sibson Consulting, and author of best-selling business book “The Fisherman’s Guide to Selling.” What’s […]
In a business brief, the National Network for Sector Partners (NNSP) explains how profiled employers achieved significant bottom line benefits by undertaking innovative training and career development efforts that are targeted at their lower-skilled, lower-wage workers. From Hidden Costs to High Returns: Unlocking the Potential of the Lower-Wage Workforce is based on structural interviews with […]
Get a last minute invite to a Halloween party, and don’t have a costume? Just go into your closet, and you can go as a famous CEO. SilkRoad’s “Social Media and Workplace 2012 Report” surveyed more than 1,100 employees in North America to understand how people are using social media at work to communicate and […]
We’ve covered a fair share of office pranks. The lighter ones usually involve a desk object, like a coffee mug glued to the desk, but others are more extreme and can get employees into serious trouble—faking a robbery, using a taser on colleagues, etc. A former San Diego bus driver has now joined the ranks […]
Here are a few of our most popular Halloween-themed articles from the Strange but True! archives. An Employer’s Worst Nightmare—A few years ago, we reported on a bookkeeper who was charged with stealing $6.9 million from her employer. The prosecutors presented a list of goods that the woman allegedly bought during a shopping spree with […]
You have to be careful of SPIFs, says consultant Joseph DiMisa, CSCP. It’s like whale watching, he adds. (“There’s a whale on the left” and everyone runs to left; “There’s a whale on the right” and everyone runs to the right). Reps start chasing the SPIF programs and forget about the basic plan. SPIFs are […]
Bad hires sap time, training resources, and emotional energy, says Susan M. Heathfield, blogging on About.com. Here are her top eight “rookie” mistakes (often made by experienced pros as well). 1. Failure to Prescreen Candidates Prescreening applicants is a must, Heathfield says. A half-hour phone call saves hours of your time and other interviewers’ time, […]