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Special from 2011 SHRM Conference: Employees “Too Scared” to Ask for Flextime Says Virgin Group Founder

Sir Richard Branson, founder and owner of the British branded Virgin Group, doesn’t think much of American flextime policies. He calls the amount of holidays “horrendous,” while the stingy vacation time bars employees from spending the quality time with their families and children that they need to reenergize. Sir Richard’s comments came at the 2011 […]

Young Worker

Don’t Overlook Younger Workers’ Potential

I’m not much of a golf fan. I certainly can’t play the game and only have a passing interest in it as a spectator. Like the rest of the world, however, I did notice when young Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open a couple of weeks ago. It’s amazing to see a 22-year-old at the […]

SHRM 2011: Understanding Generation Y

As I noted in an earlier post, I skipped out early from a session at SHRM’s 63rd annual conference that was just an overview of global trends, but the speaker did say something in passing that served me well in the next session I jetted off to: This is the first time in history that […]

SHRM 2011: Global Trends Are Affecting HR

HR professionals have to manage their day-to-day responsibilities and prepare for global trends that will affect how they do business – five of which were shared by HR guru Gary B. Kushner, president/CEO of Kushner & Company in Portage, Mich., at the 63rd annual conference of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). It was […]

N.Y. Legalizes Same-sex Marriage

New York State will become the sixth state where same-sex marriage is legal on July 24. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on June 24 signed the Marriage Equality Act (MEA) into law. Same-sex marriage already is legal in Massachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. The measure goes into effect one month […]

Deadline Looms for Plans to Conform with OTC Rules

If you have not updated your plan documents to conform with the new rules for reimbursing the cost of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), time is almost up. You only have till June 30! Under the PPACA, only OTC drugs that have been prescribed may be reimbursed through […]

Attending SHRM 2011 and Wishing I Could Be Cloned

I’m at the 63rd annual conference for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) in Las Vegas, where I’m learning not only the ins and outs of HR, but the need for cloning. There’s so much I want to hear about — technology and HR, the latest on employee benefit issues such as health care […]

Handling Weather-Related Work and Pay Issues

Yesterday, we got some valuable workplace emergency preparedness tips courtesy of Randy DeVaul, safety expert and BLR webinar moderator. Today, a few more suggestions on inspections and training, as well as an introduction to a webinar that no well-prepared employer will want to miss.

SHRM 2011: Use Surveillance Only as a Last Resort When You Suspect Fraud

Some requests for Family and Medical Leave Act leave just sound suspicious. For example, consider the case of an employee who requested leave during the exact same time of year he had taken off four years earlier. His supervisor ordered surveillance, and terminated him when it turned up what appeared to be evidence of fraud. The employee in […]

SHRM 2011: Three Rules for Email

Email has made it easier than ever for plaintiffs’ attorneys to discover wrongdoing and prove liability, an expert said today at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in Las Vegas. “The ‘e’ in email is for ‘eternal evidence,’” said Mindy H. Chapman, Esq., president of Chicago-based training firm Mindy Chapman & Associates LLC. A company that has 1,000 employees, each of […]