Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
One of our employees who has recently returned to work after giving birth says that we have to give her a special room and special breaks to express milk. This would hurt our productivity. Do we have to allow this? —Rachel W., HR Manager in San Francisco
The strike continues and it doesn’t look like it is going to end any time soon. Indeed, one blog reported yesterday that negotiations are actually going backwards! To make matters worse, it looks like several actors are honoring the picket line. I think we might be going without our beloved “Office” for several more weeks. […]
By Catherine Leonard, BLR HR EditorJust my E-pinion There’s been great controversy over the scheme to use Social Security’s No-Match Letter process to help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) force the firing of illegal immigrant workers. The scheme is on hold for now, but not the controversy. Here’s one BLR editor’s e-pinion. What’s […]
How do you train supervisors to recruit the best people (and do all the other things like appraisal and discipline and dealing with change and reducing turnover)? Here are some hiring tips, and an introduction to a 10-in-1 training program that educates supervisors and managers in all the basic HR skills. In the last Advisor, […]
HR consultant and author of 13 bestselling business books Carol A. Hacker reviews the book The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary by Joseph A. Michelli. Review highlights book’s examination of how Starbucks gets their employees to deliver excellent customer service. The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary is […]
Last week, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that insurers’ workers’ compensation costs have plummeted by 70 percent since the workers’ comp reforms of 2003 were implemented—and as a result, pure premium rates will remain unchanged for now. Poizner noted, though, that insurers should continue to pass on the cost savings to businesses in the […]
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that Dec. 26, 2007, is the deadline for employers to begin using the revised Form I-9, which was released several weeks ago. This is the form that all employers must complete for new hires to verify eligibility to work in the United States. As of Dec. […]
The Internal Revenue Service has increased the standard mileage rate commonly used to reimburse employees for business use of a car to 50.5 cents per mile, up from 48.5 cents in 2007. The new rate will apply to miles driven beginning Jan. 1, 2008. Employers who use the IRS standard mileage rate to reimburse employees […]
About 85% of HR managers say they’ve hired people not suited to the work environment, says a recent survey. But one business leader says he has the three secrets to finding “the best people you’ve ever worked with.” It appears that, in spite of advances in Internet job posting, computerized résumé tracking, and electronic résumé […]
by Daniel Pugen McCarthy Tetrault Biometric hand scanners vs. religious beliefs: What does the law say? In Canada, employers must accommodate their employees’ religious beliefs to the point of “undue hardship” for the employer. But what if you don’t consider an employee’s religious beliefs “mainstream”? That doesn’t matter, according to a recent decision by an […]