Tag: US

Q&A on Doing Business in Canada

Doing business in Canada requires understanding how Canadian employment law differs from US. For example: Are hourly employees in Canada required to be paid overtime after 40 hours of work in a week, just like in the US? Is there paternity leave in Canada? What notice must an employer give an employee before terminating them? […]

Karma in the C-Suite? Readers Respond

Oswald’s original column concluded: “Don’t spend your time thinking about how unfair life is because some people seem to be benefiting despite the way they are living their lives. You may never know what price they have paid or will pay for their apparent success, but rest assured there is one because what goes around […]

Wage/Hour Litigation Bringing Down the Bottom Line?

[Go here for yesterday’s survey results] What is the amount of annual litigation expense (by company size) in the US? The trend of increased litigation expenditure has resumed. Last year marked the first drop in the percentage of companies spending $1000000 or more on litigation since 2007. This year, the increase resumed with just over […]

Are job counter offers ever a good idea?

Without question, a job counter offer can be a useful tool if the situation fits. Under the right circumstances it might save a key employee from leaving—at least temporarily. However, in most cases they may create more problems than they solve, so employers should take care in assessing whether a job counter offer is truly […]

“Buzz Off!” Train Outdoor Workers to Battle Mosquitoes

Give workers these safety recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on using safety repellents: Always follow the instructions on the product label. Apply repellents only to exposed skin and/or clothing (as directed on the product label.) Do not use repellents under clothing. Never use repellents over cuts, wounds, or irritated skin. […]

Compensation Administration: Do You Use Automatic Pay Increases?

A formal compensation administration program is the basic management tool for ensuring that employees are satisfied. You can accomplish this in a variety of ways, but at the end of the day the goal is employee attraction, motivation, and retention. Does your compensation administration program utilize merit pay? Automatic increases? Cost-of-living increases? Bonuses? Some combination […]

Organizational Development? Start with the Janitor, says Al Gore

Challenge # 4: Organization Development [Go here for challenges 1 to 3.] Gore worked on the "reinventing government" program at the country’s largest employer, the US Government. He says the key to finding better ways of doing things is to start at the bottom. His teams met first with the janitors and worked their way […]