Month: August 2007

5 Topics for HR Strategic Planning

The following are five important topics to help you do strategic planning to improve your company’s HR functions and put those plans into action. Audit your policies and practices with the Employment Practices Self-Audit Workbook Planning to succeed The essence of strategic planning for any organization is (1) the identification of desired goals and objectives […]

Union Card Checks and Neutrality Agreements

by Robert Vercruysse and Gary Fealk Labor unions may be on the decline, but they’re once again ramping up organizing efforts, especially in stronghold states. More and more unions are seeking to avoid the traditional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process and are requesting employers to enter into card-check and neutrality agreements. HR Guide […]

Hiring: What Are the Pitfalls of Hiring Internet Applicants?

Just in the past year, we’ve started doing almost all of our hiring through online sources. In some ways, it works very well, but I’m becoming increasingly concerned that we’re sort of losing control of what was a pretty solid commitment to diversity. Are we exposing ourselves to discrimination and affirmative action problems by recruiting […]

Women’s Appreciation

LITIGATION VALUE: 1,000,000 + The “women’s appreciation” meeting was a bad idea that was poorly executed. I’m not saying that Dunder Mifflin cannot or should not recognize the achievements of its female employees. It should. I just think that the meeting shouldn’t be announced by saying “I know the crap out of women” and should […]

HR Lessons from Katrina

By Beth TintoDirector of Human Resources, Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans An HR director provides an emotional account of what it’s like to survive a major disaster—and what lessons her organization learned for the future. This week marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to Katrina, the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans had 9,000 […]

Understanding USERRA: More of What You Need to Know (Part 2 of 2)

With few exceptions, USERRA and related—and even more aggressive—state laws guarantee benefits and reemployment of employees on military leave. We started our briefing yesterday. Here’s the rest of it, and a reference that really explains it. Yesterday’s Daily Advisor laid out the broad requirements of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA.) We […]

USERRA: What You Need to Know (Part 1 of 2)

When U.S. troops return from Iraq and other battlegrounds, USERRA guarantees their reemployment and benefits. Here’s what you need to know about this Act. Next week brings September and with it an expected major report on the war in Iraq by the commanding general of U.S. armed forces there. Many leaders have said this report […]