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Dump Your Health Insurer for Good!

You may be able to do it by self-insuring. It’s not just for “big business” anymore, says BLR’s Best Practices in Compensation & Benefits newsletter. Self-Insurance Doesn’t this phrase have a siren song, especially when it comes to healthcare coverage? Just think about it. You take the premiums paid to your current health carrier and […]

5 Secrets of the Best-Performing Companies

By Chris Ceplenski, Senior Editor What makes a great company great? A top author studied 180,000 companies and found five super success factors top organizations shared. Best-selling author Jason Jennings wondered what it took to be a great company. He and his research team studied more than 180,000 companies to find out. Here are the […]

The 2 Factors That Most Affect Employee Performance

By BLR Founder and Publisher Bob Brady TV relationship expert “Dr. Phil” McGraw, reminds our boss of what employees most want from their bosses. As this is written, I’m attending the National Convention of the YMCA, in Nashville, Tennessee. I’m proud to serve as a ‘Y’ volunteer. This organization is the largest provider of daycare […]

Put These Words into Your Managers’ Mouths

In critical HR discussions with employees, some of your managers will do best working from a script. When it comes to HR-related actions, do your line managers suffer from “wingtip in mouth disease?” You know the symptoms: They over-promise or ask inappropriate or even illegal questions during job interviews. Their performance appraisal meetings with employees […]

Business Travel: Can You Help Us Sort Out Nonexempt Travel Time Pay?

We’ve got issues regarding nonexempt travel pay. Many of our nonexempts travel, typically leaving their homes on Sunday afternoon for an all-day Monday meeting, and then returning home late Monday night. In addition to reimbursing their travel expenses, what pay do we owe them for the travel on Sunday afternoon and Monday night? Is it […]

Review Résumés at Rocket Speed!

Placing one job ad can result in a torrent of resumes. Here’s how to cut through the pile quickly and have more time for qualified candidates. Every HR manager knows this situation: You put a job ad in the newspaper or on the Web. Within days, or even hours, your inboxes (electronic and plastic) are […]

9/11’s Lesson for Business: Have an Emergency Response Plan That Works

The 5th anniversary of that tragic September morning reiterates how important it is to plan for emergencies. Here are some of the basics. With the 5th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, there’s again discussion about whether anything could have lessened the extreme loss of life on that terrible day. Although the terrorists are ultimately to blame, […]

Should Employers Pay for ‘Hurricane Time Off?’

In the past, employers have paid for time off during weather disasters. After last year’s huge losses, that may be changing. The important thing is to have a policy ahead of the storm. Wilma, Frances, and, of course, Katrina. Say those names a year or so ago and you might have been talking about someone’s […]

Short Takes: Terminations

When an employee recently resigned from our company, giving two weeks’ notice, his manager told him to pack up and leave immediately and he wouldn’t be paid beyond that day. Effectively, he fired the employee as of that day. This didn’t sit right with me, but is it illegal?