Month: September 2012

Stupid Money for Stupid Acts (Retaliation)

Special from Atlanta—SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition Retaliation means the employer is paying stupid money for stupid acts, says attorney Dana Cotham. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much these days to rise to the level of retaliation. Here’s what happened with retaliation as the result of a 2006 Supreme Court decision, says Cotham: BEFORE 2006 (before […]

Feds Freeze Per Diem Rates for FY 2013

Reimbursement rates for lodging, meals and incidental expenses for fiscal year 2013, which begins Oct. 1, will be frozen at FY 2012 levels, the U.S. General Services Administration announced Aug. 27. GSA is the arm of the federal government that sets travel policy for federal employees. The reimbursement rates, commonly called per diems, determine the […]

Best Practices for Leave, Vacation, Sick, and PTO? Let’s Find Out

Employee leave—whether it’s vacation, sick time, or PTO—is frustrating enough, without worrying about what your competitors are up to. You need facts about best practices, and our Employee Leave Survey will ferret them out. But only if you help. For years, BLR® has surveyed HR and compensation/benefits professionals to find trends in policy and practice. […]

EEOC plan reveals enforcement priorities

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released a draft of its Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP) that spells out priorities such as stepped-up efforts against hiring discrimination and harassment, new protections for various vulnerable workers, preserving access to the legal system, and dealing with emerging issues like changes brought by the ADA Amendments Act. Recruitment […]

New Study Shows that Project Management Training Yields Significant Results

Areas of Improvement Of participants in “The State of Project Management Training,” 29% credited project management training with improvement in stakeholder satisfaction, while 27% reported improvement in schedule performance, and nearly the percentage—26%—had fewer project failures. In the study of 247 large, mid-sized, and small companies in a variety of industries, project management firm PM […]

The Cursed Résumé

By Kyle Emshwiller Registered nurses are going to be a hot career choice over next few years according to O*NET, an online occupation database. With a faster than average projected national job growth (20% to 28%), as well as 1,207,400 projected openings nationwide over the decade, it’s a great sign for RNs. However, while the […]

Would You Rather…?

By Kyle Emshwiller A few weeks ago, we reported on a “would you rather” survey that highlighted some surprising preferences, including that 38 percent would rather go to work than landscape. If we were surprised then, we are shocked now. Mashable recently reported on a Harris Interactive poll that looked into the frustration behind changing […]

Looking for a Job? Hope You’re Not Camera Shy

By Kyle Emshwiller According to a recent survey, over 60 percent of HR managers interviewed said their company conducts employment interviews through video often, up from 14 percent last year. Could video one day replace face-to-face interviews? Probably not, at least not in the near future. While 13 percent of respondents think their organization will […]

Employees, applicants, and jail: What HR should do?

An employee is arrested and something must be done. Do you fire the employee because you don’t want to put up with someone who lands in jail? Or do you wait to get the facts, maybe even wait for the legal system to run its course before making an employment decision? A related quandary is […]

Employer May Have to Allow Employee with Chemical Sensitivity to Work From Home

Employees with chemical sensitivity may be entitled to workplace accommodations, including permission to work from home, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled in Core v. Champaign County (July 30, 2012). Pamela Core, an employee at the Champaign County Department of Job and Family Services, had asthma and a severe chemical […]