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Diversity

What Does DEI Mean for Employers?

DEI is an acronym you’ve probably seen a lot lately. It stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. While these concepts aren’t new, they’ve taken on renewed focus for employers that want to proactively ensure everyone feels welcome and safe and is treated fairly in their workplace. This country has a long history of marginalizing entire […]

Handling Inappropriate Comments Not Covered by Other Policies

It’s likely your organization already has anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies in place. You probably also have some form of anti-violence or anti-bullying policy too. But how do you handle it when an employee is acting in a way that’s clearly inappropriate but may not fall neatly into one of the written policy frameworks? Here are […]

What to Include in Orientation Training

In a BLR webinar titled Interviewing, Hiring, and Onboarding: Best Practices for Landing Cream-of-the-Crop Employees (and Weeding Out the Duds), Sharon P. Margello, Esq., partner in the nationwide law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C., described some of the information to convey to new hires regarding work schedules, including: Starting and ending times […]

How to Teach the Basics of Professionalism

HR professionals have probably seen it all, including those employees that come off as less than professional. Their unprofessional behavior might have no bearing on their skills and knowledge, but you might not put them in front of a customer. Luckily, a skill like being professional can be taught.

retirement

Effectively Communicating Your Retirement Plan Message to Employees

Communicating with employees is one of the most important aspects of any workplace retirement plan. A plan may be carefully designed to help participants achieve their retirement objectives, but if the plan sponsor does not effectively communicate the key information, the participants may not have the understanding they need to succeed in reaching their goals.

compensation

Ask the Expert: Are Cash Payments in Lieu of Benefits Part of Base Wage?

Question: We provide employees the option to take a lump sum cash payment ($1,000/yr) in lieu of accepting benefits, payable in increments over each pay period. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has indicated those payments should be included in the base wage for purposes of calculating overtime (see Flores v. City […]

What is a Collective Bargaining Agreement?

As the name implies, collective bargaining involves negotiating (bargaining) on behalf of a group (collectively). In other words, it’s negotiating for changes for a group—in this case—employees of an organization or industry. The term “collective bargaining” usually refers to the negotiations that ensue between a union (representing the employees) and the representatives of the employer […]