Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
There are dozens of details to take care of in the day-to-day operation of your department and your company. We give you case studies, news updates, best practices and training tips that keep your organization fully in compliance with ever-changing employment law, and you fully aware of emerging HR trends.
Our workplace has a tradition of teasing and pranks. “All in good fun,” say the workers, but I think there are harassment suits building up in some employees’ minds as this continues. How can I get the message across to stop this behavior?
We are trying to make better sense of our discipline system. After people get a verbal and then a written warning, we suspend and ultimately fire them if the misconduct continues. But the suspension seems more like a gift than a punishment to many of our workers. What do you recommend for the “serious” steps […]
We’ve got a fork truck driver whose hearing is so bad that he can’t hear people shout at him, and he can’t hear warning honks. We think he’s a real danger to other workers. What can we do? — Joel, HR Manager in Merced
By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady Advisor readers never cease to amaze. My E-pinion “Happiness Haters Unite”, that ran on November 2, drew a surprising volume and variety of responses, some funny and some profound. I based the column on a study conducted by Harvard that concluded that happier workers were more productive. I […]
FLSA audits are important, as we saw in yesterday’s Advisor, and we want to help you do them right, but first, note the one factor you absolutely must have in place, if you do one at all. In almost every case, you’re going to be ahead of the game—and the Department of Labor investigators—when you […]
Resources for Humans Managing Editor Celeste Blackburn reviews the book Woe Is I: A Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner. Review highlights book’s tips for writing e-mails and avoiding cliches. The pen is mightier than the sword. We’ve all heard it, and since we are meeting on a blog […]
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is getting tough on wage and hour violations, and you don’t want them to be the ones doing your FLSA audit. Far better to find and fix problems—before DOL starts going over your books. It shouldn’t be hard to calculate pay and overtime, yet employers are losing big–dollar wage […]
An Alameda County jury has awarded $1.27 million to an African-American BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train mechanic who claimed his superiors retaliated against him after he complained about harassment by a co-worker.
Amazon.com updates its list of bestselling business books hourly. Here is a snapshot of what books were hot this morning — Monday, November 26. 1. Personal History by Katharine Graham. This candid and insightful autobiography tells the story of Katharine Graham’s personal struggles as a daughter, wife and mother and her professional triumphs as she […]
We’re in the process of rewriting our employee handbook, and we want to modify our employee appearance policy. What do we need to consider? We want our employees to look professional, but we don’t want to get caught in a lawsuit. —Ronald W., San Jose