Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
Have you ever heard of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis? If you have, the idea of environmental scanning will already be familiar to you. If not, it essentially is referring to the process of reviewing and analyzing the internal and external factors and trends that may affect your current and future actions.
Somehow the new thing with our employees is to “protect their interests” in meetings. Almost every time we have a meeting, they want to bring a witness along and they want to tape record the meeting. Do we have to allow this? —Susan P., HR Director in Merced
Employers value employees who can operate independently and don’t need to be micromanaged. Similarly, particularly among employees with some level of management responsibility or who aspire to such responsibility, there is often a desire to handle things on their own without asking supervisors for help. At the same time, managers are there for a reason, […]
How does your organization collect applications when it needs to fill a new job opening? Do you solicit résumés to be sent in the mail? Do you use online application software that collects applicant data for you? Do you use a recruiter? Perhaps you have some hybrid of these examples?
We recently received the following question from a California Employer Advisor subscriber: We have a policy we’re planning to change. We told the affected employees that we will be handling the issue a particular way, but we didn’t explicitly tell them that the new practice is contrary to what is in the handbook, or that […]
by Dan Oswald With the recent tragic death of comedian and actor Robin Williams, my family and I decided to watch one of his many great films over the weekend, Dead Poets Society. The movie is about a group of boys at a private prep school. It’s there that they meet Professor Keating, their new […]
It should go without saying that most employers want to create an environment free from all types of harassment. Not only do they not want to be held liable for such behavior, it’s also simply the right thing to do. That said, fostering a workplace culture that allows harassing behaviors may happen more often than […]
At the end of the day, most employees’ pay and benefits extend far beyond the base salary. Many employers are beginning to present total compensation statements (also known as total reward statements) as a means of showing employees how the organization is investing in them.
While we may assume that all employees would appreciate more money, it’s not the only way to provide recognition and thanks for a job well done. In fact, many employees would prefer to have their efforts recognized in other ways. And from a practical standpoint, there often isn’t enough money in the budget to use […]
How do you assess what skills your employees need to be trained on? What about figuring out what skills already exist in the organization and what will be needed in the future?