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HOT LIST: BusinessWeek’s Bestseller List

BusinessWeek ranks business books that are the most recent bestsellers. 1. StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by Tom Rath 2. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss 3. Women & Money: Owning the Power to […]

What 8 Things Do Employees Want? (Hint: Money’s Not on the List)

Tangible rewards play a role in job satisfaction, says today’s expert, but for many workers, the “happiness factor” depends heavily on intangibles, such as respect, trust, and fairness. Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor’s Marilyn Gardner, but it’s not enough. Beyond pay and benefits, lie eight […]

Overtime and Wage Lawsuits: Potential Liability for Most Employers

Many employers are shocked when they see how quickly a single complaint by an employee for unpaid overtime can turn into a collective-action lawsuit under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state labor laws. Unlike discrimination claims filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there is no requirement that […]

Anchors Away

Another week without even a rerun, so to find something to write about, we turn to Steve Carrell’s movie catalogue. Anchorman proves to provide plenty of HR lessons — lessons that are strikingly similar to those we see with Michael Scott and gang in Scranton. LITIGATION VALUE: $1,000,000 (in pre-inflation, 1976 dollars). Obviously, there is […]

Gender Discrimination Lawsuits: Essentials to Avoid Them

In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at definitions of many common terms in the confusing world of gender discrimination. Today, some tips for avoiding the lawsuits that come in all these varieties. There’s bad news on the gender discrimination front for employers: When cases do go before a jury, judgments have skyrocketed. For example, in 1991 […]

What Are Your Employees Thinking? Find Out by Joining the Free National Employee Attitude Survey

If you’re like most employers, you’d probably like to know what your employees are thinking about their jobs, supervisors, promotion opportunities, teamwork, and other important workplace issues. The problem is, it can be hard to get at this information without pressuring employees. But the National Employee Attitude Survey (NEAS) can help you find out what […]

Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee

Resources for Humans Managing Editor Celeste Blackburn reviews Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee by Alex Frankel. Review recounts examples from the book that show how companies both win over and lose employee buy in. In his “Author’s Note” for Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee, Frankel writes “the […]

Gender orientation, Gender identification, Gender expression: A Sexual Harassment Glossary for Today

Sex discrimination used to seem simple (or so it appeared) but it has morphed into a miasma of complexity—transexuality, gender identity, gay, straight, transgender. What do these terms mean? How are they used? Here’s what you need to know: Before you begin talking sexual harassment to supervisors, employees, or lawyers, you need to get your […]

Employers Lessons from Quebec’s Experience with Psychological Harassment

By Simon-Pierre Hebert and Rachel Ravary McCarthy Tetrault If you have employees in Quebec, then you are likely familiar with the prohibition against “psychological harassment” that was added to the Act Respecting Labour Standards in 2004. Managers initially reacted to the new provisions with a lot of apprehension, fearing that a disgruntled employee could turn […]