Tag: news

Do Your Employees Know These 4 Techniques for Mindfully Expanding Productivity?

“Mindfulness isn’t anything that we think; it’s what we don’t think,” says Dr. Stephen McKenzie. “It is an ancient and natural life-enhancing and healing technique that can help us remember our natural state of happiness and health, even if we think we are too modern and too busy to prioritize what’s really important.” Dr. McKenzie, […]

New NIOSH Guide Helps You Train to Prevent MSDs

A new publication from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) highlights how workers in grocery stores can reduce strains and sprains when moving materials from the delivery truck to the sales floor. Designed for retail workers and safety experts, Ergonomic Solutions for Retailers uses a series of illustrations to show how and […]

Obama takes steps toward requiring paid sick leave

by Tammy Binford Is it a sensible plan to boost productivity and give workers the help they deserve, or is it an unaffordable, unfair mandate on already overburdened employers? President Barack Obama’s announcement of a push to pass a paid sick leave law is likely to garner both reactions. Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to […]

South Dakota same-sex marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

by Jane Pfeifle On Monday, a federal judge in Sioux Falls ruled that South Dakota’s constitutional and statutory prohibition on same-sex marriage violated the U.S. Constitution. Six same-sex couples filed a lawsuit against the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of the South Dakota Department of Health, and other public officials seeking to overturn the […]

3 New Training Tips for Using New Technologies in the New Year

  The technology website Geek Wire published advice from ergonomics writer Larry Swanson, author of Scared Sitless, the Office Fitness Book. In the past few years, tablets and smartphones have made huge inroads in workplaces of all types. According to Swanson, the compact size and portability of the devices make work and life better in […]

Design Handouts to Give Trainees a ‘Hand Up’ to Better Performance

  If your handouts are “throwaways,” you’re doing something wrong. Presentation expert Marie Wallace says, “Too many presenters treat handouts like an afterthought, justifying their action with ‘They will just get trashed anyway.’ That kind of thinking becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When handouts are not designed well, they do get trashed.” When done correctly, however, […]

Vermont’s layoff warning law to take effect January 15

by Jeff Nolan The substantive notice requirements of Vermont’s new law requiring warnings before mass layoffs takes effect January 15, meaning the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) isn’t the only law requiring certain employers to notify employees of an impending plant closing or mass layoff. The Vermont Notice of Potential Layoffs […]

What Follows Your Training Sessions?

  It’s been estimated that: Less than half the skills and information learned in training will be transferred to the job immediately after the training session unless trainers follow up on trainee performance. Within 6 months, as much as three-quarters of training can be lost without follow-up. After 1 year, some employees will retain as […]

Ongoing Training on Job Descriptions Keeps Employees Engaged

  Ongoing training about job descriptions is “essential, since no job remains exactly the same from year to year,” say Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, business, marketing, and corporate training experts and coauthors of The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People. In fact, since “job descriptions are typically out of date […]

Legal knots untied: Same-sex marriage soon to be lawful in Florida

by Robert J. Sniffen and Jeff Slanker Effective January 6, 2015, same-sex marriage will be lawful in Florida. On December 19, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to extend the postponement of a federal district court’s decision that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The district court judge postponed his order until January 5, 2015, […]