Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced last week that discrimination charge filings in 2007 shot up 9 percent over 2006, and pregnancy bias filings reached an all-time high. The EEOC reports that it received 82,792 complaints from private-sector workers nationwide last year, which was the highest volume since 2002 and the largest annual […]
Managers often want to know why they need documentation to fire an “at-will” employee. Simple, says today’s expert. Without it, you can end up in court explaining why your managers are so stupid that they fire people for no reason. In theory, with at-will employees, either party can terminate the employment arrangement: At any time […]
By Donovan Plomp of McCarthy Tetrault and Karen Sargeant, formerly with McCarthy Tetrault Spring will soon be upon us, and with it may come the urge to do some “spring cleaning” in the home and the workplace. This might mean ending an employment relationship that isn’t working out. In Canada, which has no concept of […]
Last issue we covered guidelines for developing English-only policies. Today’s issue gives implementation tips and introduces a new audio conference that will answer all your English- only questions. Have you reviewed the obstacles and decided to require employees to speak English at work? Here are some tips for implementing such policies taken from BLR’s popular […]
Are they talking about me? Do they understand me? Who knows? My workers speak a dozen languages. I’m making a simple rule– speak English at work or else you’re done here. What with changing demographics, retention woes, and increased hiring demands, more and more businesses are concerned about dealing with employees whose native language is […]
Many folks will tell you that the relationship between an employee and his employer is a lot like a marriage or a long-term personal relationship. The breakup of that relationship can be nasty, particularly if it has been a long-term association and one of the parties believes he has been treated unfairly. The situation can […]
When you think about interviewing job candidates, what comes to mind? The interviewee makes sure his clothes are neatly pressed (and free of stains) and that his hair is combed, teeth are brushed, and palms are dry for the inevitable interviewer handshake. Well, today that handshake may never happen. Technology, especially video technology, is radically […]
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady For anyone needing job description help, our CEO announces something that’s not quite the Ultimate Answer to Life’s Questions … but it’s close. Longtime readers of this column know I like to use it to communicate to all 130,000 of you out there. Most of the time, it’s […]
We have people out on leave. Some employees take intermittent leave and others are out for chunks of time. Our managers complain to me about how disruptive these absences are. I’m worried that the managers are going to retaliate against the workers. What should we be doing to prevent this? —Heather S., Sacramento
We’ve experienced a lot of turnover in the past two years—many employees have decided to quit and move on to other companies. On an employee’s last day, I meet with him or her to go over final paperwork, benefits, COBRA, etc., but I think we should also interview the departing employee to find out why […]