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Employers Can Weigh in on Smartcard Guidance

Employers that offer mass transit benefits have an opportunity to put in their two cents’ worth on whether the IRS should issue clarifying guidance on the use of smartcards in conjunction with qualified transportation fringe benefits. The IRS said in Notice 2012-38, which it issued May 26, “The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have become […]

Should You Shift to Electronic Recordkeeping? (Hint: You Already Have)

  E-mail Spreadsheets Website E-documents Presentations Voice mail Payroll And just look at what else is potentially keeping an electronic record: Telephone extension detail Computer/network system log-on, log-off times Scantron® security system details Outlook calendars, notes, to-do lists Private files/journals Papers E-mail Microsoft® Word WordPerfect® Excel® PowerPoint® .pdf files Voice Mail Video clips Photographs .wav […]

Pay less for FLSA liability coverage by updating policies and monitoring workers

A relatively new form of insurance, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) became popular in the 1990s after the 1991 Civil Rights Act amendments increased the frequency of discrimination claims in the workplace. EPLI typically covers defense costs, judgments and settlements of employment issues ranging from sexual harassment to wrongful termination. While many employers do not […]

What’s the Appropriate Sales Level for Commission to Kick In?

Schum, a Senior Consultant at Compensation Resources, Inc. in Upper Saddle River, NJ offered his tips for sales compensation design at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR/HRhero. Sales Compensation Model Schum offers an example of the true cost of a salesperson and then charts out how that might translate into a bonus program. Cost of […]

Sales Comp: All About How You Split the W-2 Pie

Schum, a Senior Consultant at Compensation Resources, Inc. in Upper Saddle River, NJ offered his tips for sales compensation design at a recent webinar sponsored by BLR/HRhero. For example, Schum says, here’s how one organization might split the sales compensation W-2 pie: Sample Sales Compensation Mix Tier     Scope of Accountability Base Salary (Fixed) Bonus (Variable)  […]

Twitter Stirring Up Trouble at Work

By: Kyle Emshwiller Facebook isn’t the only social media network that can stir up trouble at work. Here are a few cautionary Twitter tales. Social Media in the Big League—Major league baseball hit a home run earlier this spring by issuing new social media guidelines. According to reports, the policy was not intended to deter […]

Facebook ‘Liking’ Is Not Protected Activity, Says District Court

By: Kyle Emshwiller The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia has found that “liking” something on Facebook is insufficient to be protected under the First Amendment. The six plaintiffs in the case were former employees at a Virginia sheriff’s department. When election time rolled around, the plaintiffs favored their boss’s opponent and […]

termination

Fashion Exec’s Facebook Faux Pas Not Funny, Says Employer

By: Elaine Quayle What was he thinking?  When a fashion house CFO vented, blogged, and tweeted his workplace frustrations on his social media outlets, he forgot that more than his friends could read them! According to The Wall Street Journal and other media reports, Gene Morphis, chief financial officer of Francesca’s Holdings, used his blog, […]

Translating Hiring Criteria into a Postable Paragraph

Yesterday’s Advisor showed how to clarify what you are looking for in a candidate; today, how to translate that into candidate terms, plus an introduction to BLR’s handy HR audit guide. Translating into Candidate Terms Now you have to translate your desires into concrete terms that you can use in a posting, an ad, or […]

Mentoring at Work

Mentoring Lets Employees ‘Stand on the Shoulders of Giants’

It’s often said that employees are an employer’s greatest resource. That being the case, it’s no wonder many employers turn to mentoring — the linking of talented but inexperienced employees to proven leaders. Famed scientist and philosopher Sir Isaac Newton has been quoted as saying, “If I have been able to see further, it was […]