Monday May 20, 2024

The best team wins: Ten tips to hone your recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes

Human resources departments continue to struggle to build the best workforce. There are plenty of applicants but not enough candidates with the right combination of skills, experience, work ethic, and attitude to be top performers. This guide provides tactics and tips to help you improve the effectiveness of your company’s recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes. […]

Are employees protected when they post negative comments about customers?

You know that employers have to tread carefully in their social media policies concerning what employees can and can’t say about work. But does that same leeway apply when it comes to employees posting negative comments about customers?   A case in Hawaii could give us some answers. A brief rundown: Maurice Howard was a […]

Feds offer a first look at the upcoming ‘Cadillac Tax’

Even though the “Cadillac Tax” doesn’t take effect until 2018, it’s one of HR pros’ biggest concerns regarding the entire Affordable Care Act. Now, for the first time, the feds are offering guidance on how this tax will be calculated.   Starting in 2018, employers will be required to pay a 40% excise tax on […]

Obama plan would increase early 401(k) withdrawals

Are you a fan of this potential drain on your company’s 401(k) plan?  In President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget, his administration included a provision that, if passed, would allow unemployed individuals to withdraw up to $50,000 from their individual 401(k) accounts penalty free. Presently, early withdrawals (those made before age 59-1/2), are subject to a […]

The next great HR challenge: 4 ways to prep

The recent economic upswing has created an unwelcome, and unexpected, consequence for HR — and no, it’s got nothing to do with employees fleeing into a healthier job market.  The real estate market is on the rebound — especially the commercial real estate market, according to the latest figures from CoreNet Global, a commercial real […]

Obamacare faces the music before the Supreme Court — again

The Affordable Care Act — known to one and all as Obamacare — began its latest legal test before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.   You recall that last fall, the high court agreed to hear a case challenging the legality of Obamacare subsidies in states that have refused to set up their own healthcare exchanges. […]

Can you believe what the DOL’s doing to suspected wage violators now?

There’s one superpower you probably didn’t know the DOL even had. It’s the ability to seize your inventory in a single bound if the agency believes you’ve violated FLSA’s wage-and-hour laws. It’s called the “hot goods” provision, and you likely haven’t heard about it because the DOL’s been reluctant to unveil its secret weapon — until […]

Must love penguins, hate showering: Is this job worth $20K a year?

Here is one of the more unusual job postings you’ll see this year:  Port Lockroy, a British historic base on Goudier Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, is looking for an “assistant.” This person will be asked, among other things, to: Operate the Port’s post office, which takes in about 70,000 pieces of mail during the […]

Wal-Mart to pay $150k tab for age and disability discrimination

Wal-Mart has to lead the league in employee lawsuits. The latest development: The corporation agreed to pay $150,000 to settle an age and disability discrimination claim.   In a lawsuit, the EEOC charged that Wal-Mart discriminated against the manager of the Keller, TX Walmart store by subjecting him to harassment, discriminatory treatment, and discharge because of his […]

4 ways managers can build trust with their team members

You’re probably sick of hearing it: “Employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.” But it’s true. And the reason people leave bad managers? A lack of trust.   Here’s what Carolyn O’Hara, writing on the Harvard Business Review blog, identifies as four ways managers can prove their trustworthiness in their charges’ eyes. Trustworthy Trait […]