Training Managers To Supervise IT Employees–A Challenge That’s Too Often Overlooked
As workplaces become more technology-dependent, more and more companies are hiring information technology (IT) employees to work in-house.
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Big Mouths Bring Million-Dollar Verdicts
In almost every case, when you investigate the underlying cause of an employee lawsuit, you’ll find that the manager or supervisor either caused it or could have prevented it. Managers and supervisors cause lawsuits simply by: Saying the wrong thing or asking the wrong questions Treating employees unfairly Humiliating, harassing, or retaliating, or Doing nothing […]
Tactical Considerations for Reference Letters in Canada
By Derek Knoechel As the authors of the July 13, 2009, Northern Exposure article “Canadian Employers May Be Obligated to Provide References” indicate, a positive reference letter can be worth its weight in gold to an employee who has been fired. But employers often don’t want to provide reference letters, and a reference letter can […]
Denial of FMLA Reinstatement: Employee Options
Yesterday’s Advisor covered identifying and notifying "key employees" about reinstatement under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Today we’ll look at their options after denial of reinstatement notification, and introduce a popular, recently updated FMLA resource. The key employee who has received notification that reinstatement after FMLA leave will be denied has two choices: […]
Hot List: BusinessWeek’s Best Seller List
BusinessWeek magazine ranks the 15 best selling hardcover and paperback business books for August 2009 and gives a short summary. 1. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. As you’d expect with Gladwell, there are lots of surprises in his explanation of why some people succeed fantastically. Pluck and smarts get less play here […]
Who’s a ‘Key Employee’? Should You Care?
Confusion reigns over the status of "key employees" under the FMLA, what their reinstatement rights are, and what the employer’s notice requirements are. Today’s Advisor clears away the fog. Who is a Key Employee? A "key employee" is: Salaried FMLA-eligible (meets service requirements of 12 months and at least 1250 hours) FMLA-covered (employer is […]
Are Single, Childless Workers Shortchanged by Benefit Plans?
by Hillary J. Collyer Over the past two decades, the American workforce has enjoyed a significant increase in family-friendly policies in the workplace. Yet are those “family-friendly” benefits fair to all employees? Employees without children wonder whether they receive less valuable corporate benefits than their counterparts with children. Employers are prohibited from providing unequal benefits […]
Addressing the Needs of an Aging Workforce
by Isabella Lee After falling for more than a century, the retirement age of American workers is on an upward trend. According to a recent survey, 43 percent of Americans believe they will have to work during their retirement. Many baby boomers plan on staying in the workforce past retirement for a variety of reasons: […]
The ‘D Word’
By Linda F. Willing Just My E-pinion Today’s guest columnist says that diversity training is not the same as harassment training, and it shouldn’t focus on the dire outcome of lawsuits. I recently did a presentation entitled “Leading Diverse Teams” as part of a large national conference. Following the session, one of the nearly 200 […]
Kidding Around on the Job
As summer rolls on and TV reruns continue, I did like Michael Scott would do during an average workday: I turned my attention to surfing the Internet. I came across an article on the Wall Street Journal’s site entitled “Did You Hear the One About the Recession?” by Kayleen Schaefer. The article discusses how workplace […]