Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
by Dan Oswald “He acts like he owns the place!” Depending on the context, that single sentence, when used in the workplace, can either spell disaster or be one of the most positive and flattering things to be said about an employee. If the statement is made out of frustration about an employee who throws […]
By Lorene Novakowski and Brandon Wiebe On November 15, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a union’s right to collect, use, and disclose personal information for legitimate labor relations purposes outweighs an individual’s right to privacy. In so doing, it declared Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) unconstitutional but suspended the declaration for […]
On November 19, 2013, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a national association for the construction industry, filed a request for an injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) final rule affecting federal government contractors, including construction contractors. […]
I’m not shy about going back to the well. Last month I posted some lessons HR professionals could take from Billy Beane’s roster management of the Oakland A’s, as told in the bestseller, Moneyball. For my money, Beane’s innovations as GM of the cash-poor A’s put him in the upper ranks of baseball executives among […]
Finding just the right person for a job is the constant challenge for recruiters. Even when they have the benefit of up-to-date training, high-tech tools, and good common sense, they often face an uphill struggle. They’re either inundated with applications—many from unqualified candidates—or they’re left with such a small number of suitable applications that they […]
by Mark I. Schickman True or false: You cannot ask a job applicant if she has a disability and consider her answer during the hiring process. I would have said true―you can’t inquire about a disability. Rather, the question for every job applicant is the same: Can you perform the job’s essential tasks with or […]
by Dan Oswald “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” —Abraham Lincoln As a child, whenever my mouth started running in the wrong direction, my mother would say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.” It’s not […]
The hiring process can be challenging for employers and jobseekers alike. Employers struggle to match their needs to the skills and experience of applicants. Jobseekers struggle to make employers understand why they’re right for the job. That dual struggle gets even more complicated when a criminal conviction is added to the picture. According to figures […]
by Steve Jones Q I have an employee who is outwardly gay. He is a great employee and says he loves working at my business. However, he recently mentioned that he doesn’t like when a specific coworker uses antigay slurs. The slurs are not directed toward the gay employee. Instead, the slurs are generic comments […]
by Julia M. Hodges Obesity is a disease, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). The AMA’s recent declaration has a multitude of implications for employers, including the potential for increased disability-related litigation. Whether courts will decide to consider obesity a disability under the law remains to be seen, but employers everywhere should beware. Obesity […]