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5 Tips for Tough Conversations with Employees

It’s a moment that any HR professional experiences sooner or later: a tough conversation with an employee. Maybe you’re implementing a professional improvement plan, maybe you need to discuss ways the individual can improve his or her performance, or maybe you need to implement a consequence for unprofessional behavior. No matter what the circumstance or […]

arbitration

Court Upholds Dismissal After Employee Couldn’t Prove Monetary Damages

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin employers) recently interpreted the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in a case involving an interesting set of facts. The employer altered an employee’s position while he was on leave, but his compensation was frozen at a pre-leave level […]

Managing a World Where Zoom Fatigue Is All Too Real

Even before the pandemic, Zoom had proven to be a great tool for virtual training. But when the pandemic struck, suddenly, Zoom became a go-to tool for just about every form of business interaction imaginable—from regularly recurring meetings to colleague-to-colleague interactions to hiring to performance reviews. In short, Zoom and similar tools became the default […]

job post

Hiring on the Cutting Edge: No-Code Talent Acquisition Tools

For Fortune 500 companies, hiring is a constant process. A recent report summary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed nearly 50,000 new jobs have been added to the market since January, and 84% of recruiters are in the process of adapting their hiring processes to facilitate new job openings. Instead of using dated, […]

data

Understanding the People Analytics Technology Market

The market for people analytics (PA) technology is growing quickly. In fact, RedThread Research reports that there were 121 PA technology vendors in 2020, with a 35% growth rate from 2019 and a 55% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the last 4 years. Forward-thinking companies are helping drive this growth as they increasingly realize […]

pretext

Employee with Essential Tremor Can Proceed with ADA Case, Federal Court Rules

A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio illustrates the relatively low bar an employee must clear to proceed with a regarded-as-disabled claim. Facts Douglas McGonegle worked for Sleep Number, a mattress and sleep accessory store, as an at-will employee (that is, he could be fired at any time […]

backlash

Toxic Workplaces in the Remote Office

For many, one of the bright spots of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the ability to work from home for the last year. In addition to the greater flexibility and shorter commute, many employees hoped for some relief from toxic workplaces. Workplace Toxicity Follows Employees Home Unfortunately, and surprisingly, many victims of a toxic workplace […]

It’s Time to Throw Your Frontline Teams a Digital Lifeline

During the past year, while most of us have hunkered down at home, frontline workers have done vital work keeping our factories and distribution centers operational, keeping our lights on and our water flowing, and delivering the groceries and e-commerce purchases on which so many of us have come to rely. The deskless workforce doesn’t […]

teambuilding

How to Build an Effective Maintenance Technician Team

Your company invests several billions of dollars in automation machinery—miles of conveyor belts, intricately interlaced pneumatics, diverters, sorters, and stampers—to boost productivity and responsiveness. You hire a crack squad to install it properly, which is an additional nine-figure investment … and then it breaks.

stress

Help Employees Improve Focus, Reduce Stress with Mindfulness

The world is filled with noise, both literal and metaphorical, and there are times when everyday distractions make it difficult or impossible to focus on the task at hand. Consider that, on average, employees check their e-mail 36 times an hour and spend 2 hours each day just recovering from distractions. For many, those disruptions […]