Archives

Blowing Holes in Collective Agreements

by Emilie Paquin-Holmested and Dominique Monet The Supreme Court of Canada, in Québec (Procureur général) c. Syndicat de la fonction publique, recently struck down a clause in a collective agreement. The clause in question prevented certain employees from challenging discipline through grievance arbitration. The Court declared the clause void because it contravened a statutory minimum […]

Is It HR’s Job to Encourage Employee Complaints?

Yes, HR does want to encourage employee complaints. If you don’t, the complaints will go to the agencies and the lawyers, and then you’ve moved into a different ball game that’s being controlled by someone else. When the complaints come to you first, you can take action. Yesterday’s Advisor covered the watchdog role as part […]

Hot List: Bestselling “Organizational Behavior” Books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, October 4, in the “Organizational Behavior” section of the “Business and Investing” category. 1.Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The authors of Made […]

Is Corporate Watchdog in the HR Job Description?

Is Corporate Watchdog part of your job description? On paper, probably not. But in practice, probably yes. Who else is going to do it? Marketing? IT? Finance? Puh—leese. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make that part of your job easier. Get Out and About You won’t pick up much information sitting in […]

Decisionmaking 101

Have you ever considered that more of your difficulties at work come from decisions that are NOT made than those that are? How often do you wait for a decision to come from “on high” only to discover that by the time it does the opportunity has passed you by? My guess is that if […]

Promotion and Self-Promotion

Litigation Value: No liability to Dunder Mifflin/Sabre, but plenty of room for improvement in behavior, as always. In the second week of Season 7 of The Office, Sabre miraculously escaped without an obvious lawsuit. For this shocking development, I’m inclined to credit the fact that Michael Scott spent most of the episode locked in the […]

Part-timers—What Benefits Should They Get?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Increasingly, part-timers are taking on important roles in our prganizations. Whether they are soon-to-retire veterans or new-to-the-workforce grads hoping to get to fulltime, they all want benefits. Where should you draw the line on who gets benefits and what they get? Today’s survey will help you figure it […]

Individual Liability for Wage and Hour Claims

by Kara E. Shea I recently participated in hosting a Wage and Hour Virtual Summit webinar. Wage and hour compliance — overtime, work-time issues, exempt status — is always a lively topic and typically results in lots of questions and feedback. This time around, most of the feedback surrounded remarks I made about individual liability […]

Not an Employee, But Still a Harasser

Yesterday’s Advisor presented two training scenarios about sexual harassment. Today, two more, and a look at a unique 10-minutes-at-a-time training system that will help your organization fend off expensive lawsuits. Sarah T. Endures the Teasing The back office at ABC Securities had always been a rough and hectic place to work. Now Sarah T. has […]

Work Relationships That Change the World: What’s Love-Love Got to Do with It?

Group Publisher of Employment Law at M. Lee Smith Tony Kessler reviews Tommy Spaulding’s book It’s Not Just Who You Know, finding the author offers an insightful look into the five different levels of relationships. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, blogs, and Skype, most of us have cyber-lists filled to the brim with friends these […]