Month: December 2008

Amazon.com’s Editor’s Picks for Best Business and Investing Books of 2008

The editors at Amazon.com have put together a list of the best books of 2008 in the “Business and Investing” category. 1. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to […]

Wellness Tipping Point—Employees Now Care About Costs

There’s been general agreement that wellness programs are effective at reducing employer healthcare costs, but survey results show that healthcare costs now matter to employees—something that’s been missing up to this point. The survey, the Principal Financial Well-Being Indexsm, covered more than 1,600 employees and retirees at growing businesses with 10-1,000 employees. Released in early […]

HRDA’s Top Ten—As ‘Voted’ on By You

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady For the final e-pinion of 2008, we thought we’d share the HRDA top 10—actually your top ten, since we ranked them based on reader interest. Topics run the gamut from the technical—How to Conduct EEO Investigations—to the slightly snide—Wellness Even the C-Suite Can Understand—to the overconfident—”Oh, sure, She’s […]

Kevin’s Loan

Litigation Value: $0 It’s week 2 of our review of The Office webisodes. This time, we watched “Kevin’s Loan.” In this particularly hilarious webisode, it is revealed that Kevin has a gambling debt. He devises a scheme to pay off his debt by getting a loan to open up a mobile ice cream business. Unfortunately, […]

What Are HR Managers Worth?

As we come to the end of this tumultuous year, it might be a good time to ponder your worth as an HR manager. Today’s Advisor gives you some statistics from BLS and BLR, to get you started. The federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides a wealth of data on salaries for HR […]

Lawsuit Challenges Milwaukee Paid Leave Ordinance

On Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce (MMAC) filed a lawsuit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court asking the court to find that the Milwaukee Sick Leave Ordinance, passed through referendum in November and set for enforcement beginning in February, is invalid and unenforceable. The MMAC is also requesting that the court […]

Challenging Times in Canada Present Opportunities for Creative Solutions

by Katie Clayton In this economic climate in Canada, many employers are being forced to find ways to reduce costs, which often means layoffs. But layoffs don’t have to be the only answer — you can reduce costs without losing valuable employees. One way businesses can do so is to slightly reduce their employees hours […]

2 Words that Mean Interview Success—’Drill Deeper’

Yesterday’s Advisor covered two deadly sins of interviewers. Today, we’ll talk about a third sin—failing to drill down to the unvarnished truth—and a tip about a product specially designed for the small HR department. Any job candidate with an ounce of sense has prepared answers for the obvious questions about job qualifications. You still have […]

3 Deadly Sins of Interviewers—and How to Avoid Them

Interviewing and hiring the best “talent” for your organization is probably your most important task. And yet, time after time, there’s that sinking feeling after just one day—bad choice. Want to avoid that? Avoid these three deadly interviewing sins. Fortunately, it’s not that hard. Deadly Sin #1—Failure to Prepare Before you start recruiting you need […]

HHS Regs Offer Protection for Health Care Providers’ Moral Beliefs

In a remarkably last-minute fashion, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued final regulations protecting health care providers who withhold medical care based on conflicting moral beliefs. The rule, which covers federally funded health care providers, takes effect January 18, 2009 — the required 30 days after its under-the-wire December 19 […]