Tag: HR

Good Boundaries to Make for Good PTO Policies

Yesterday’s Advisor featured tricky PTO policy questions from Attorney Katherine Marques. Today, we present her key success factors for PTO, plus we introduce the best way to find compliance violations—before the feds do. Marques, an associate in the New York office of Holland & Knight LLP, offered her PTO tips at a recent webinar sponsored […]

Do Your PowerPoint® Slide Designs Enhance Learning?

“Since slides packed with long lists of bullet points result in “cognitive overload” for learners, Cliff Atkinson recommends that trainers design their presentations in a format that’s consistent with the way people think. Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points (Microsoft 2005), says most learners can retain only three or four pieces of information at any […]

How the Hell Can You Communicate if You Refuse to Talk? (Lee Iacocca)

“How the hell can you communicate if you refuse to talk to people?” Consultant Andrew Botwin quoted auto industry icon Lee Iacocca and illustrated with a picture of Lee and Snoop Dog hanging out. Botwin, founder of SPC Consulting, offered the following tips for “communicating up” at BLR’s 2013 Strategic HR Summit held recently in […]

Workers’ Compensation: Avoid Adverse Action Claims

“Most state workers’ compensation laws provide that it is unlawful for an employer to discharge or otherwise discriminate/retaliate against a worker for claiming worker’s comp or testifying at a workers’ comp hearing.” Adele Abrams explained in a recent BLR webinar. And this goes beyond just standard discipline or firing: “Anything that is an adverse action […]

Telecommuting Basics: Q&A for Employers

Does an employer have liability for injuries that telecommuters incur while in their home office? How can you keep your company culture if you allow people to work from home? Who should pay for equipment for telecommuting employees’ home offices? In a recent BLR webinar, Dayna Fellows answered these questions and more. Here’s a sample […]

FMLA Leave Tracking: When Can HR Retroactively Designate FMLA?

When it comes to FMLA leave tracking, how far back can an employer go before the official FMLA designation? There are several scenarios where it can easily occur that an employee has taken qualifying leave that has not been designated as FMLA leave. Some of these scenarios have simple answers, but others aren’t so simple. […]

Is Your Employee Handbook a Legal Time Bomb?

Hunter Lott is an HR practitioner dedicated to the “rights of management.” His handbook remarks below came during his “Please Sue Me” session at a recent Society for Human Resource Management Conference and Exposition.

Training Can Help Close Economy-Related Skills Gaps

In a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll, 66 percent of respondents reported having a hard time recruiting for specific job openings, up from 52 percent in 2011. “The Ongoing Impact of the Recession—Recruiting and Skills Gaps” found that recruiting challenges vary by industry, but highly skilled positions—scientists, engineers, technicians, programmers, nurses, doctors, and […]

Ensure Your Training Program Covers All the Legal Bases

Effective training enables your organization to comply with all legal requirements, thereby avoiding costly lawsuits, audits, and fines. Discrimination Because the affirmative defense for sexual harassment has been extended to other forms of discrimination, it is important to provide more specific and varied training on discrimination. The regulations that apply include: Age Discrimination in Employment […]

Is It Time for a Review of Your Training Program?

Effective training enables your organization to comply with all legal requirements, thereby avoiding costly lawsuits, audits, and fines. Supervisors, who are the organization’s front line, play a particularly critical role in the training process. They must: Understand what training is required by law. Be familiar and comfortable with organizational policies and with employment-related laws. Adhere […]