Tag: HRSBT

Dirty Rats and Crazy Ants: Here’s Your Workplace Vermin Update

As you know, your HRSBT editors love animal stories. So here is one that’s not about dogs, goats, or monkeys (our usual favorites), but about what OSHA calls “vermin.” Yes, in order to be compliant with federal law, workplaces must be constructed and maintained to prevent rodents, insects, and other vermin from entering. So we […]

New Info Security Weapons—Paper and Ink

It’s like going from spaceships back to the horse and buggy or smartphones back to the telegraph. Is the world actually on the brink of going back to saving documents as hard copies? The recent Wiki leaks, the Snowden disclosures, and reported snooping at the recent G6 have the Russian government examining ways to protect […]

More Employers Finding Reasons Not to Hire Candidates on Social Media, Finds CareerBuilder Survey

More than two in five (43 percent) hiring managers who currently research candidates via social media said they have found information that has caused them not to hire a candidate, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. This is up 9 percentage points from last year! There was also a slight rise in the number of […]

Summer Intern Gets Fired Over Fake Pilot Names

Earlier this summer, we wrote about a new anchor who was fired for swearing on the air. In his defense, it was the young anchor’s first day on the job, and he didn’t know his microphone was on. The blunder quickly spread on social media, and thanks to quick action on the part of the […]

Chicago Sleeps Off Stanley Cup Celebration

Sporting events have been known to take a hit on companies. Some employers dread the Super Bowl, March Madness, and the World Cup. From gambling, to bandwidth issues, to increased absences, sporting events can be a serious disruption to businesses. The latest to learn this lesson—Chicago. According to CBS Chicago, the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup victory […]

Reader’s Story: Toilet Talk or Dirty Seat? Clean It Up

Bathrooms have been the setting of many Strange but True! tales. From applicants taking telephone interviews on the toilet, to ex-employees swiping tissue paper, bathrooms bring out some bizarre behavior. This week, we’re sharing a reader’s story about how HR had to clean up a messy issue. “We had a female employee that was urinating […]

Don’t ‘Bare Arms’ in My Workplace, Warns Judge

You’ve heard of the “fashion police,” but now a judge is critiquing what attorneys wear in his courtroom. And the dress code he prefers may not be considered fashion-forward. If you watch the news or talk shows, you know that short-skirted sleeveless dresses, especially in bright colors and worn with killer heels, are what’s hot […]

Dogs on Duty

We’ve featured several dog-related workplace stories in the HR Strange but True! column. Some of our favorites happen to be about employed canines like Bailey the Beagle, who came to the rescue during the bed bug panic. Thanks to the Hartford Courant, which recently posted a slideshow highlighting 24 dogs at work, we are able […]

Best of SBT: Animals in the Workplace

Sticking with this week’s animal-themed direction, we’ve gathered a few of the most popular SBTs featuring two-, four-, and eight-legged friends. Monkey Business—Monkeys have been useful in maintaining order.  The first example was a langur monkey that was charged with patrolling trains for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, in India.  The langur—who had a handler […]

The Voice: CEO Edition

According to new research, a lower voice could mean a higher paycheck. The study, from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, found that male chief executive officers with a deeper voice tended to manage larger companies, make more money, and be retained longer. “Our research is one of the first attempts to assess whether voice […]