Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
While the world has been focused on the U.S. and global economic meltdown, a historic presidential election, and staggering unemployment numbers, some pretty significant changes have been made in federal employment laws and regulations with most going into effect in just a few weeks. A recent issue of HR Hero Line includes a roundup of […]
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., has announced that it will pay a minimum of $352 million to settle wage and hour lawsuits across the country, possibly the largest such settlement ever. The 63 wage and hour class-action lawsuits that are being settled have been pending for several years, according to a statement from the company. Each of […]
by Derek Knoechel Sophisticated employers in Canada recognize that the potential costs associated with employee turnover extend far beyond the cost of replacing departing employees. Departures can also place critical business assets at risk. A departing employee may engage in the unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information ranging from technological know-how, product roadmaps and […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Litigation Value: $0 With “The Office” on hiatus for a few weeks, we thought we’d take a look at the webisodes to get our fix. In the most recent webisode, “The Outburst,” Oscar flips out on an unknown victim on his cell phone while sitting at his desk. Naturally, everyone within earshot becomes quite curious […]
When Tanuj Gupta joined AstraZeneca in 2006, he didn’t know many of his coworkers. “When I found out there were Employee Network Groups, I thought it was a great way to meet more people within the company,” says the executive director of external medical relations. And it was: “I met a fantastic group of people […]
Margaret Rivera, AstraZeneca’s senior manager of diversity, helps oversee 16 successful employee network groups. Here are her tips for making such affinity groups work: 1. Don’t force it. “Companies . . . should understand that the most successful employee groups often start out as grassroots organizations — they are volunteer organizations,” she counsels. 2. Make […]
The December Dilemma: practicing inclusion during the winter holidays. The top religious accommodation companies have made in the past 12 months? Considering different religious beliefs of employees when planning holiday-related events, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) “Religion and Corporate Culture Accommodating Religious Diversity Survey.” Taking differing beliefs into account is never […]