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Employee Relations

Empower bosses to recognize employee contributions

09/23/2019
Every day at work ought to be Thanksgiving Day, according to Karl Ahlrichs, senior consultant for employee benefits at Gregory & Appel Insurance in Indianapolis. He offers these suggestions for inexpensively thanking employees for their efforts.

Keep a log of ‘critical incidents’

09/23/2019
Managers are always making judgments about their employees. On a day-to-day level, these judgments are usually informal and even unconscious. The problem is that many of those thoughts are forgotten when it comes time to prepare a formal appraisal. Try keeping a “critical incidents” log.

‘Interrogate’ without triggering legal liability

09/19/2019
Aggressively questioning an employee suspected of stealing from your workplace can be a flash point for a lawsuit. If you are part of the investigation, follow these guidelines when interviewing suspects.

Almost all managers agree: Staff are burning out

09/18/2019
According to the World Health Organization, burnout now warrants classification as an official medical condition resulting from workplace stress.

Snapshot: Young employees are prepared to bolt

09/18/2019
It’s time to ramp up efforts to retain your younger employees.

Cite poor performance to justify termination

09/13/2019
Smart employers always document poor performance with specific examples. That way, you have a ready defense for just about any surprise discrimination lawsuit.

SHRM advises Congress on how to retain staff members

09/03/2019
The Society for Human Resource Management is doing its part to make Capitol Hill function more effectively, telling Congress how to retain staff members, whose work is characterized by high pressure, low pay and long hours.

Objective measures are most persuasive, so focus on performance criteria

09/02/2019
Remind supervisors to always focus on performance—not intangibles like “attitude”—using as many objective measures as possible. If an employee later alleges some form of discrimination, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you kept things professional by focusing on what really matters: doing the job.

Fantasy football could cost employers $9 billion

08/29/2019
An estimated 12.5 million adults will play fantasy football this year, according to 2018 data from Nielsen Scarborough. With an estimated total of nearly two-thirds of those adults employed, that means over 7.5 million workers will be researching their teams during work hours.

Write memos that people will read

08/28/2019
If a subject is important enough for you to write a memo, take the time to write it in a way that people will read it through. Deliver effective messages with these actions.