Author: Chris Ceplenski

What Metrics Should HR Be Using? Q&A Session

What financial metrics should HR be using? What is most important to track? Which metrics measure effectiveness? Should the metrics vary depending on what industry your organization is in? Teri Morning fielded all of these questions and more in a recent BLR webinar. Check out the sample questions and answers below to learn more. Q. […]

How HR Can Earn a Seat at the Table: Understanding Cash Flow Statements

For HR to be most effective, you should understand how the business side of the organization works. HR won’t earn a permanent seat at the decision-making table without a clear understanding of what’s behind the finance team’s decisions and strategies—including basic financial reports. Let’s take a look at the cash flow statement as an example. […]

Q&A on Doing Business in Canada

Doing business in Canada requires understanding how Canadian employment law differs from US. For example: Are hourly employees in Canada required to be paid overtime after 40 hours of work in a week, just like in the US? Is there paternity leave in Canada? What notice must an employer give an employee before terminating them? […]

Is OSHA a Defense to an ADA Discrimination Claim?

What happens when OSHA compliance gets in the way of ADA compliance? For example, what happens if an employer fires someone (with proper process and documentation, of course) for unsafe behavior, only to discover that this person had an undisclosed medical condition that was causing the behavior? The medical condition qualified as a disability, which […]

Best Practices for Dress Code Policies

Despite the fact that there are no federal laws outlining what employer dress code policies can and cannot do, there are still plenty of ways dress codes can get employers in legal trouble. Legal challenges to dress codes are often based on allegations of gender bias, religious bias, race/national origin bias, or disability bias. To […]

Employee Rewards: Do You Measure the Effectiveness of Your Program?

Two primary perspectives exist when it comes to employee reward programs: Reward programs are seen as a cost of doing business, in which case the goal is to minimize the costs. Reward programs are seen as an investment, in which case the goal is to optimize the return on the investment. Organizations, including their managers […]

Employee Rewards: The Importance of Perceived Fairness

Perceived fairness of employee rewards (or the lack thereof) is often at the root of why employees leave organizations. The idea of fairness also determines if an employee will make an extra effort to reach organizational goals or even the objectives of his or her own job. For these reasons, it’s vital for organizations to […]

Telecommuting Basics: Q&A for Employers

Does an employer have liability for injuries that telecommuters incur while in their home office? How can you keep your company culture if you allow people to work from home? Who should pay for equipment for telecommuting employees’ home offices? In a recent BLR webinar, Dayna Fellows answered these questions and more. Here’s a sample […]

FMLA Leave Tracking: When Can HR Retroactively Designate FMLA?

When it comes to FMLA leave tracking, how far back can an employer go before the official FMLA designation? There are several scenarios where it can easily occur that an employee has taken qualifying leave that has not been designated as FMLA leave. Some of these scenarios have simple answers, but others aren’t so simple. […]