Category: HR Strange But True

Catch up on the latest odd, offbeat, and humorous HR stories.

Only Employee Without Criminal Record Is a Real Dog

This Strange but True story is about a small, rural town where the two law enforcement officers don’t carry guns. No, it’s not the plot of The Andy Griffith Show. And the cops can’t carry guns. It’s really an HR case study on background checks, and the only employee without a record is a dog—literally! […]

Nurse Sleeps on the Job; Then Files for Unemployment Benefits

A nurse, who was responsible for monitoring a boy with cerebral palsy while he slept, fell asleep on the job twice. Instead of being fired, the woman resigned. She filed for unemployment benefits, but her employer opposed the application. The case. The woman was employed full-time by a nursing services company as an overnight monitor […]

National Coffee Day Survey—Top 10 Professions That Most Need the Perk at Work

According to the results, the professions with the highest proportions of workers stating they are less productive without coffee vary widely. Those who need coffee to get through the workday the most are: Food Preparation/Service Workers Scientists Sales Representatives Marketing/Public Relations Professionals Nurses (Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, or Physician Assistant) Editors/Writers/Media Workers Business Executives Teachers/Instructors (K–12) […]

Walking in a Coworker’s Shoes (by Living in Their Home!)

If you have never seen The Holiday, here’s a quick recap (don’t worry—no spoilers.) Two women with men-problems, one in Los Angeles (Cameron Diaz) and another in London (Kate Winslet), decide to change up their lives by swapping homes for the holiday and end up gaining a new perspective on life. What’s the connection to […]

Stepping Up Security with Panic Buttons

Wisconsin lawmakers and others working in the state capitol in Madison now have access to panic buttons. The devices have been installed underneath the desks of legislators, aides, and other officials. Reportedly, the buttons were introduced with the arrival of a new capitol police chief who has also increased the numbers of citations and arrests […]

Are Your Employees Allowed to Surf the Web?

A new survey suggests that some organizations are not too concerned about cracking down on employees surfing the Web, at least not enough to create a policy. A surprising amount of employers (53 percent) allow access to social networking, shopping, and entertainment sites, according to a recent OfficeTeam survey. Out of the three categories, “social […]

Do Interns Crash the Learned House of Geeks?

It’s hard to believe that the “wedding crashers” would be allowed to crash into the citadel of Internet security and secrecy, that house of learned geeks—the Google campus! A new movie, “The Internship,” starring Will Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Owen Wilson, was rumored to be filming in Silicon Valley.   And yes, these 40-ish guys are […]

Sales Across the World

Mercer’s recently released its 2012 Sales Salaries Around the World report offering a sneak peak at how employers across the world approach compensation for sales and marketing employees. Here are some interesting highlights: Brazil is the highest-paying country for the head of sales position and the second highest for the head of marketing position. Sales […]

Colleague Connections: Face-to-Face Trumps Phone

Intraoffice communication is an important part of any work environment. However, while the need may be constant, the type of communication is not equally favored. There appears to be slight generational preferences on how to reach out to colleagues. Not surprisingly, slightly more workers aged 25–34 prefer e-mail/text (35 percent) than workers aged 55 and […]

Guess Whose Employees are Growing a Garden!

It sounds like a trick question. Guess whose employees are growing a garden? It just couldn’t be, but it is—the workers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)! Agency employees across the country are growing gardens and distributing the harvest to food banks and shelters. “USDA created the People’s Garden Initiative 3 years ago, and […]