Author: Celeste Blackburn

Hot List: Bestselling “Business Life” Books on Amazon.com

Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, June 1, in the “Business Life” section of the “Business and Investing”category. 1. Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success–and Won’t Let You Fail […]

Comp Time in the Private Sector

On February 10, 2009, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington) again introduced the Family Friendly Workplace Act, which, if passed, would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and authorize private employers to provide compensatory (or “comp”) time off in lieu of overtime pay. For almost 20 years, the public sector has been using comp time, […]

Losing More Than Just an Employee: Protecting Confidential Information

by Rachel Blue Lately, we’ve seen a lot of employees walking out of buildings and plants with boxes of framed photos from their desks or lockers, and maybe a severance check in an envelope. The job cuts this time are deeper, and the next job may be further away than in the past. As a […]

Been There, Done That!

Employment law attorney Troy Foster reflects on the “Stress Relief” episode of The Office and reminds employers that while reruns may work in prime time, letting workplace problems reoccur is dangerous. Litigation Value: $615,000 and rising . . . Haven’t we been down this road before? The “Stress Relief” episode of The Office just keeps […]

Leadership and Teamwork

I grew up playing sports and have often looked back at those experiences to gain perspective on how a group of individuals might work together for a common goal. As I reflect on what caused certain teams to excel while others failed, I repeatedly come back to the subject of leadership. I believe the difference […]

Obama Reveals Choice for Supreme Court Justice

Since Justice David H. Souter announced his intent to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court, there has been much speculation regarding President Barack Obama’s first nomination to the high court. After a long Memorial Day weekend, the wait is over. On Tuesday morning, Obama announced that he would nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the […]

Reducing Pension Costs in Canada During Hard Times

The recent decline in financial markets has caused Canadian pension plans to become significantly underfunded. For instance, in Québec close to 97 percent of all defined benefit pension plans are currently underfunded. As this continues, many employers may look for ways to reduce pension costs or at least offset increases of those costs. Such losses […]

A New Era in Business?

Those who know me best would not consider me a sentimental person. In fact, my wife would probably laugh out loud if someone suggested that I was indeed sentimental. But with my oldest graduating from high school in a couple of days, it has caused me to think about what work life might be like for […]

HRHero Training Survey Results

When it comes to training employees and supervisors, HR plays a significant role in most — if not all — aspects at many companies, according to the latest HR Hero survey. While this probably doesn’t come as a surprise to many HR practitioners, the level of involvement in all phases of training might. Our survey, […]

Impractical Jokes

Time magazine is running a feature about The Office and NBC’s invitation for viewers to send in photos of hijinks in their own workspaces, like those often featured on the show. Some of the pranks featured on the show have been hilarious. From simple things like Jim enveloping Dwight’s stapler in Jello, to more complicated things like […]