Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
By BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady BLR’s CEO ponders improving communications at our company (and yours,) and asks for your help in a way that can benefit all concerned. Every year for the last 10 years, we’ve surveyed our employees about their jobs and the company—an attitude survey. To a very distressing degree, the […]
LITIGATION VALUE: $150,000 in defense costs — unless (and that is a big unless) the WARN Act applies. Call me crazy, but announcing “we’re screwed” is not the best way to tell employees that the company is closing down its branch. Not only does it create turmoil among the employees, but it comes nowhere close […]
If you want to effectively train supervisors on legal hiring, don’t just show them or tell them, but do both! If you’ve tried training your supervisors on HR and found that some just never catch on, perhaps you’re not properly accommodating their “learning styles.” For as educators will tell you, some people learn best by […]
Conducting employee performance appraisals can be a challenging process. And even if you’ve been successful in getting your managers to take the time to do the appraisal, there still could be some bumps in the road with the appraisal meeting itself.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, has ruled that insurance adjusters for Farmers Insurance Exchange qualified for the administrative exemption from overtime, according to the standards under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In so ruling, the appeals court threw out a $52.5 million judgment awarded by a federal trial court […]
The IRS has increased the standard mileage rate commonly used to reimburse employees for business use of a car to 48.5 cents per mile, up from 44.5 cents in 2006. The new rate will apply to miles driven beginning January 1, 2007. Employers who use the IRS standard mileage rate to reimburse employees may deduct […]
Recent surveys of the profession show few surprises in what concerns HR. The surprises are in what doesn’t concern you as much. As fall is traditionally the time of year when businesses assess their positions and plan for their futures, we thought it might be a good time for a “state of HR” assessment. What […]
Merit increases can help target specific business goals, but as workers take one step forward to claim their reward, make sure they don’t take two steps back. A recent Advisor report on the pay raises employers project for 2007 noted that merit increases for exempt employees will average 3.8 percent, compared with general increases for […]
Despite a generally healthy economy, pay increases are backpedaling. What’s taking their place as motivation? Can you say, “variable pay”? The talent war may be raging, but the big guns that often win recruitment, retention, and worker motivation – significantly larger paychecks – have yet to be brought into the action. That was the key […]
By BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady Who’s really responsible for the bottom performers in an organization? And what should be done about them? BLR’s founder had his say last week. Now he reacts to yours. Last week’s column advocated “differentiation” among the best, average, and poorest employees, partially based on Jack Welch’s well-publicized theories. […]