Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
HR professionals have the responsibility to enforce workplace rules, promote cooperation, insist on civility and respect, and—most of all—remind folks they are on one team, at least in the workplace. Meanwhile, another election season is imminent. How do you keep people working productively when those very divisive discussions are happening at work?
It’s likely your organization already has anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies in place. You probably also have some form of anti-violence or anti-bullying policy too. But how do you handle it when an employee is acting in a way that’s clearly inappropriate but may not fall neatly into one of the written policy frameworks? Here are […]
HR professionals may feel like the sole drivers of performance and development processes, but even though they are responsible for kick-starting continual feedback in the organization, their success is dependent on managers and employees embracing it. When employees feel comfortable sharing, asking for, and receiving performance analyses, notable changes will occur in your company’s operations. […]
As COVID-19 still abounds and a large cohort of employees are working from home whenever possible, employers and employees alike are seeing the advantages and disadvantages of this setup. It’s clear there are a lot of positives, like decreased costs for everyone and great productivity levels. Technology has enabled remote work to continue nearly seamlessly […]
In a previous post, we discussed the importance of aligning employee incentives in order to optimize cooperation and collective action within an organization. Even the strongest leaders will struggle to achieve that cohesiveness if team members’ purpose doesn’t match. In this post, we discuss some strategies for tempering competing motivations and improving alignment. Holistic Incentives […]
What is the waiting-time penalty? Under California Labor Code Section 203, employers will be assessed a penalty for any willful failure of on-time payment of any part of final wages due to a departing employee. Remember that wages earned are due and payable immediately upon discharge for involuntary terminations. For resignations with at least 72 […]
The enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on December 22, 2017, brought the most sweeping overhaul of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) since 1986. Most of the changes took effect January 1, 2018. This article discusses the TCJA’s impact on employer provided fringe benefits and our insights, based on conversations with employers […]
We tend to give employees two types of raises. First, everyone gets a COLA raise on July 1. It’s the same percentage for everyone. Then we also give annual merit raises on anniversary dates. My question is, can we start not giving the COLA raise to substandard employees? Is there a better way to structure […]
Pinning down physical and environmental requirements for job descriptions is annoying—but it means reduced hassles in hiring, and reduced appearances in court. Even though they seem obvious to you, (and maybe you think they should be obvious to anyone), the requirements need to be in writing on the job description. Deal with the issue up […]
PTO policies are considered easier to administer than separate vacation, sick, child care, etc., but there are many policy issues to be decided before your program runs smoothly and avoids lawsuits, says attorney Katherine Marques. Unfortunately, to complicate matters, many state laws (and some city laws) cover sick time and/or vacation time, so proceed with […]