Category: HR Strange But True

As your managers ponder how to get often uncooperative employees to form productive teams, new research shows that it’s not their management style that’s to blame. It’s that the workers are humans. Research shows that chimps often show better teamwork! A series of trials by scientists found that chimpanzees not only coordinate actions with each […]

While laid-off workers really miss their paychecks and benefits, downsized employees are down about something else this time of year—missing the March Madness office pool.. However, outplacement solutions provider RiseSmart® is busy collecting brackets of participants in its second “RiseSmart Challenge,” an alternative program that serves as a fun way to help unemployed workers take […]

An HR executive, allegedly terminated for poor performance and not complying with the terms of his performance probation, argued that his termination was in retaliation for complaining about the CEO’s age-related comments. Background. In 2005, “Russell” was hired as vice president of worldwide human resources (HR) for Corbis Corporation. In July 2007, the CEO who […]

Here’s a sobering statistic. More than one-third of American workers experience chronic work stress, with low salaries, lack of opportunity for advancement, and heavy workloads topping the list of contributing factors, according to a new national survey by the American Psychological Association’s Center for Organizational Excellence. Despite a growing interest in workplace wellness, only 36 […]

March Madness is here, and it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement if you’re a sports fan. But before you try to sneak a peek at scores at your work station, you may want to think twice. One-third of IT professionals will take some action to prepare for March Madness, according to a […]

As a way of redefining the art of interviewing, Pizza Hut will experiment with a new concept in its search for the “Manager of Digital Greatness” by giving candidates 140 seconds to sell themselves for the position. How appropriate—and Twitterish! The interview technique, which will debut at the Interactive Festival this week in Austin, Texas, […]

Several miners were fired after a video of them dancing in underground tunnels, some shirtless, came to the attention of the employer. Up to 15 workers at the Agnew gold mine in Gold Fields, Australia, have been terminated and banned for life from Barminco projects after they filmed themselves doing their own rendition of the […]

According to a new report, there are some food trends that could have your employees gobbling up the contents of your vending machines. Today’s food world is a vastly different place than it was just 4years ago, thanks to a variety of forces that have reshaped our attitudes and behaviors about food. These forces have […]

SBT readers have been submitting their own strange but true encounters with job applicants. So far we’ve heard about inappropriate attire and drug use, to name a few. Here are two more tales from the unpredictable world of HR.   A Russian Request Depending on the company’s policy towards vacation time, requesting time off before being […]