HR Management

Back-to-basics manager: Good for the bottom line

05/26/2010

If you want your organization’s employees to work more productively, pay more attention to them. During the economic crisis of 2009, the most effective business strategy turned out to be increased supervision and management of employees. Research by RainmakerThinking shows that organizations that combined three effective strategies during the recession had better financial results than others:

Creating drug-free workplace: How to draft a policy, conduct legal tests

05/26/2010

When drug abuse isn’t an obvious problem in the workplace, it’s easy for employers to develop a cavalier attitude about it. That’s not smart. It’s in your best interest to detect employee drug abuse early and root it out immediately. Keeping your workplace drug-free means knowing how to spot the problem and effectively respond to it—without violating employees’ legal rights and creating legal liability.

What should we do? We’ve heard rumors that some employees are downloading porn at work

05/24/2010

Q. All of our employees have Internet access at work. We have heard rumors that several employees have been logging onto pornographic and other inappropriate sites, and have been displaying or disseminating objectionable material to others in the workplace. Even though we have not received a formal complaint, do we have an obligation to address this now?

Go beyond ‘benefits brain dump’: Educate year-round

05/21/2010

For too many employers, “benefits education” consists of dropping an annual benefits statement in front of the workers and saying, “See you next year.” However, a new Hewitt Associates survey says U.S. workers’ biggest complaint about their employee benefits isn’t cost or access—it’s that employees don’t understand the benefits they already have. Here are inexpensive ways HR can educate employees year-round:

Big insurance provider named ‘model’ of diversity

05/20/2010

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) focuses on hiring and developing employees with disabilities. The organization was singled out by the U.S. Business Leadership Network as one of three businesses in the country that do an exceptional job when it comes to hiring and retaining employees and accommodating their needs at work. So BCBSM is sharing its best practices with other organizations:

Checklist: 15 questions to ask employees in their first 60 days

05/18/2010

How’s that new hire fitting in? To find out, have managers meet with their new employees within the first 60 days. The goal: Discover what new hires like and dislike about the job and environment, see if the job meets their expectations and nip potential problems in the bud. These 15 questions can steer the conversation.

New technologies, old problems: Social media in the workplace

05/18/2010

Social media is on the rise, creating many questions for employers. Should we use social media to develop business or recruit new talent? Should we let employees use Facebook and Twitter at work? What restrictions do we need? Can we monitor off-duty conduct? And what are the potential liabilities?

Illinois per capita state tax burden holds steady

05/17/2010

Illinois ranks right in the middle of the nationwide pack when it comes to the per capita tax rate its citizens paid in 2009, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. Illinois ranked 27th in state per capita taxes in 2009, dropping one slot from 26th in 2008.

To pay or not to pay interns? The DOL is cracking down

05/17/2010

Two factors have fueled a sharp rise in unpaid internships: Employers’ continuing need to hold down costs and the drop in the number of paying jobs for young people. But before you get too excited about using that free labor source, take note: The DOL and many state labor departments say they are stepping up enforcement and fines against employers that illegally don’t pay their interns.

How far can we go to discipline employees for criticizing us online?

05/14/2010

Q. Under our social media policy, we prohibit employees from disparaging our company in any social medium. Two of our employees recently uploaded a video to YouTube in which they criticize our safety record and say we don’t pay good wages. Can we terminate these employees for this activity?