Work / Life Issues

High gas prices offer retention opportunity

10/01/2005

With gas prices jumping over $3 a gallon, employees with long commutes may be thinking about working closer to home. Ease their pain by: 1) Talking with the top brass about …

Fewer employers offering flextime schedules

09/01/2005

A study by the Society for Human Resource Management says only 56 percent of employers now offer flex schedules, down from 65 percent in 2002. Why the change? Experts say …

Employees waste twice as much time as you think

08/01/2005

HR professionals assume that employees, on average, waste 56 minutes per day at work. But the truth is that U.S. employees admit to squandering more than two hours a day, says …

8 real-life strategies for keeping employees on board

07/01/2005

Issue: As the economy heats up, employees, yes, even yours, are wandering through the want ads and surfing job boards.
Risk: Being caught without an up-to-date retention strategy can disrupt …

How to set a work/home boundary that works

05/01/2005

Issue: How deeply do you want to get involved with employees’ personal lives?
Risk: Becoming a sounding board for every personal problem will eat up your workday (and drain you …

Draw staff to health screenings with the right sales pitch

04/01/2005

Issue: Employees who participate in health screenings submit fewer medical claims, lowering your costs.
Risk: They won’t show up if they don’t see the value.
Action: Dangle the best …

Entice applicants to beat a path to your door

03/01/2005

The hassle and cost of slogging to work is a big reason that good employees quit. And commuting pains aren’t easing: Two-thirds of new jobs are now located in the suburbs, …

Encourage staff volunteerism, but don’t link it to pay, promotion

02/01/2005

Heads up: More employers are heaping legal trouble on themselves by tracking employees’ volunteerism ef-forts and, in some cases, using that information (either directly or indirectly) as a prerequisite for promotions …

Be consistent when bending policies to suit elder care needs

01/01/2005

Issue: Most organizations lack formal elder care benefits or policies. Instead, they assist employees by making exceptions to other policies.
Risk: Unless you apply those exceptions fairly, you’ll risk complaints …

Combat absenteeism caused by flu-shot shortage

11/01/2004

Issue: Experts are predicting a sharp rise in flu victims this winter due to the unexpected shortfall in flu vaccines. Risk: More absenteeism and …