Compensation: How Do We Set Up a Pay-for-Performance System?
How do we go about setting up a pay-for-performance incentive system? We are in the very early stages and just don’t know where to start. Thanks. —Anonymous in Alameda
Month: June 2008
What Motivates Teams? Again, It’s Not the Money
In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at 8 factors that promote individual “happiness” at work. Today we’ll see how that plays out in a team setting, courtesy of BLR’s HR Department of One. Managing teams is different from managing individual contributors. Although there is clearly overlap in the “happiness factors,” there is also a clearly a different […]
HOT LIST: BusinessWeek’s Bestseller List
BusinessWeek ranks business books that are the most recent bestsellers. 1. StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by Tom Rath 2. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss 3. Women & Money: Owning the Power to […]
What 8 Things Do Employees Want? (Hint: Money’s Not on the List)
Tangible rewards play a role in job satisfaction, says today’s expert, but for many workers, the “happiness factor” depends heavily on intangibles, such as respect, trust, and fairness. Is money the key to retention and productivity? It helps, says the Christian Science Monitor’s Marilyn Gardner, but it’s not enough. Beyond pay and benefits, lie eight […]
Overtime and Wage Lawsuits: Potential Liability for Most Employers
Many employers are shocked when they see how quickly a single complaint by an employee for unpaid overtime can turn into a collective-action lawsuit under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state labor laws. Unlike discrimination claims filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there is no requirement that […]
Compensation: Should We Give Quick Raises to New People for Better Retention Results?
I just read an article that said it’s important to give raises to good new employees soon after hiring or you’ll lose them. Sure, that may be a good idea in theory, but if I do that, the new people will make more than the workers who have been around for much longer. And that’s […]
Anchors Away
Another week without even a rerun, so to find something to write about, we turn to Steve Carrell’s movie catalogue. Anchorman proves to provide plenty of HR lessons — lessons that are strikingly similar to those we see with Michael Scott and gang in Scranton. LITIGATION VALUE: $1,000,000 (in pre-inflation, 1976 dollars). Obviously, there is […]
Gender Discrimination Lawsuits: Essentials to Avoid Them
In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at definitions of many common terms in the confusing world of gender discrimination. Today, some tips for avoiding the lawsuits that come in all these varieties. There’s bad news on the gender discrimination front for employers: When cases do go before a jury, judgments have skyrocketed. For example, in 1991 […]
What Are Your Employees Thinking? Find Out by Joining the Free National Employee Attitude Survey
If you’re like most employers, you’d probably like to know what your employees are thinking about their jobs, supervisors, promotion opportunities, teamwork, and other important workplace issues. The problem is, it can be hard to get at this information without pressuring employees. But the National Employee Attitude Survey (NEAS) can help you find out what […]
Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee
Resources for Humans Managing Editor Celeste Blackburn reviews Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee by Alex Frankel. Review recounts examples from the book that show how companies both win over and lose employee buy in. In his “Author’s Note” for Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee, Frankel writes “the […]