07/29/2010
While making the right benefits choices and completing the necessary paperwork is ultimately the employee’s responsibility, HR can give a kick in the pants by providing a checklist like this one.
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07/28/2010
Stock options and stocked kitchens aren’t the only reason employee turnover is so low at Google. While the online giant is legendary for its financial and “comfort” perks, you need to look beyond these to see its real retention tools. Shannon Deegan, Google’s director of People Operations, explained some of these at last month’s SHRM conference in San Diego:
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07/27/2010
A group of black Philadelphia firefighters known as Club Valients and the NAACP have settled their lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia concerning racist comments that appeared on the web site of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22.
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07/27/2010
A long-awaited Supreme Court ruling has reiterated the importance of all employers to draft and enforce a comprehensive electronic communications policy governing how employees can use e-mail, the Internet, cell phones and text services.
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07/27/2010
It’s probably the toughest part of a benefits administrator’s job: choosing next year’s health insurance plan. If they’re lucky, benefits pros have powerful allies in that high-stakes game: insurance brokers. But some brokers are little more than order-takers. If you’re starting to think your broker is part of the problem and not part of the benefits solution, maybe it’s time to look for a new one.
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07/27/2010
Employers are warming up to wellness programs to help reduce health care costs. And it works! But choosing the wrong pieces of the wellness puzzle can lower your ROI dramatically. For the most bang for your wellness buck, focus on these five efforts that drive the greatest cost savings.
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07/23/2010
Q. One of our sales managers thinks a salesperson has been e-mailing confidential customer information to his personal e-mail address. Can we review the salesperson’s sent-messages file on the company’s e-mail server to see what he has been sending out?
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07/23/2010
Q. Our employees have company-issued cell phones with global positioning systems capabilities. Can we use the GPS to track employees’ movements without telling them we are doing so?
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07/23/2010
Q. Is it OK for me to consider information about a job applicant that I learn by using Google, viewing Facebook pages and reviewing Twitter feeds?
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07/22/2010
Federal government employees in Washington, D.C., are spending their lunch hours running—alongside dogs from local animal shelters. Federal agencies have teamed with the Washington Humane Society to create the People and Animal Cardio Klub (PACK)—a lunchtime workout program for workers and shelter dogs.
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07/20/2010
As FMLA administration grows more complex, more employers are using software to track it. Most of the time that works fine. But as one employer recently found out, FMLA apps don't always tell the whole story. Lesson learned: There's no substitute for doing a hands-on review of employee records.
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07/20/2010
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a California police department’s search of an officer’s text messages was reasonable and didn’t violate the officer’s Fourth Amendment rights. The court said that even if the officer had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his text messages, the search was motivated by a legitimate work-related purpose and was not excessive in scope.
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07/20/2010
The California Supreme Court has issued a decision in a closely watched construction liability case that involved an independent contractor’s injury. It concluded that true independent contractors working in construction are responsible for making sure the workplace is safe and can’t claim that the hiring contractor or owner was liable for any resulting injuries.
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07/20/2010
If the unsteady economy doesn’t improve during the next six months, one in four HR professionals say their organizations are “very likely” to respond with wage freezes, according to a new poll. What's your Plan B if the recession double-dips?
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07/20/2010
A recession has a way of changing the way businesses do business. HR is no exception. Here are three effective strategies for HR pros to consider as the economy recovers and their organizations permanently adopt the cost- and time-effective strategies they have embraced out of necessity over the past couple of years:
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