HRGuru

We love it when our interviews and our hard data support each other, and that's just what happened in our recent major study on diversity. If you haven't read it, I recommend my colleague Mary Ann Downey's TrendWatcher from early October, where she writes about the interviews she has done with various diversity practitioners. Now the hard numbers are out, and ...

When Erik Moser was laid off from his job in public relations in January 2009, he improvised to keep his finances afloat. He scaled back on eating out. He picked up a few odd jobs, like babysitting for his sister and dog walking for friends. He even got out of the lease on his Chicago apartment and moved back in with ...

A reader writes: I work at a small start-up company, and when I accepted the position my boss represented one of the perks as "we can be informal about vacation days." I'm not a slacker and didn't plan on taking advantage of it, but understandably I was happy about the attitude. However, in the seven months since having worked here, I've ...

The best way to put a dollar value on benefits as part of a job offer is to ask the prospective employer to do it for you, says management expert Lonnie Pacelli, author of The Project Management Advisor: 18 Major Project Screw-Ups, and How to Cut Them Off at the Pass. Jim Greeley, director of career services at Merrimack College in ...

You know I’ve written about the connection between transparency and social media in the past. Invariably, when I mention transparency, someone asks about handling those situations that go wrong. And, my reply is always the same – even the best companies hit speed bumps. It’s how you deal with them that defines you to your customers. To give an example, let ...

A 360 degree leadership assessment is one of the most effective ways to get feedback from your employees, peers, and managers against a set of pre-defined leadership competencies. Having debriefed these for hundreds of managers, and taken a number of different 360s myself, I’ve discovered some best practices that have worked for me and others. Here are 10 tips for getting ...

NEW YORK - Even though the economy is still suffering and many small businesses won't be hiring for some time, some companies are thinking about taking on more workers. The question for many is, what kind? Some business owners will hire full-time or part-time employees, while others will consider going the independent contractor route. Temps are another option. Each kind of ...

I know my blog has certainly helped me rise up. Other’s blogs have helped them rise up. I am going to an unconference that is going to focus on HR people who are interested in blogging. Someone may ask me if they should start a blog. In the past, my answer was an unhesitant yes. Of course you should. Why shouldn’t ...

A lot has been written about the revolutionary impact of Twitter: how it's changed the way we communicate, how it's connected us to one another and how it's increased transparency in everything we do. But as much as people love Twitter, there's growing concern about other impacts the social networking tool is having, especially when it comes to workplace productivity. ...

NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ - Facebook and Twitter represent a breakthrough in marketing and communications that can help businesses connect with others in a flash. From the standpoint of employer liability, however, what happens when such online sharing crosses the line into disclosure of company secrets, office gossip or a provocative video of a drunken co-worker? [widget:twitter_article_widget] "Inappropriate and unwise ...

Nov. 4--The glass ceiling has been shattered. Now society must pick up the pace to accommodate the needs of the changing family and workplace. Today, half of all workers in the U.S. are women. For the first time, a woman is the primary or co-breadwinner in two-thirds of American families. More women also are single, and their collective power and shifting ...

Whether there will be additional cuts to employee benefits and whether employers will bring back some of the reductions made because of the recession are not clear yet. However, employers are continuing to watch benefits costs - and await health care reform, which may create cost-related scenarios that employers can't yet predict. When they provided their survey responses over the summer, ...

A reader writes: I've worked at a large non-profit for 4 years. I've recently interviewed at another non-profit and expect that they will make a job offer soon. I'm concerned about how I'll resign if offered the new job, and I'd appreciate your advice based on the following: * My manager and vice president constantly say they don't want to be ...

HR practitioners know that top performers are business “gold” to a company. These employees create repeatedly positive customer experiences, generate impressive results with minimal supervision, all while inspiring the admiration of peers and bosses.  Top performers are so valuable to a company in fact, that they can affect whether customers come back, and can serve to extend and improve on the strength ...

Mad that you were passed over for a big promotion again? Livid that the bootlickers always seem to get ahead in your organization? Perhaps it's time to consider whether the anger itself, however legitimate, is holding you back. Evidence suggests many of us are walking around the office feeling resentful, though we may be unaware of the cumulative toll bitter actions ...

So there's good news and not-so-great news about talent management (TM): On the positive side, organizations - especially top performers - recognize that operating in silos restricts their ability to respond quickly to changing business needs. A holistic approach to talent management has become mission-critical. Some organizations have already plunged full speed into integrated TM, but with mixed results. The bottom ...

John Stevenson hasn't stopped patronizing the local gym, but after his workout, he is wiping down his machines with spray disinfectant and paper towels. Sales associate Janet Lininger is having customers swipe their own credit cards (she's relieved to have recently shifted from the intimate-apparel section to the far-less-cozy handbag department). In ways both discreet and direct, serious and silly, Americans ...

The media coverage of exRBS chief Sir Fred Goodwin's huge pension pot triggered much debate about the connection between performance and remuneration. But 'Fred the Shred' is far from alone in securing enviable rewards for failure. Research in September 2008 by corporate remuneration consultancy Patterson Associates found that CEOs of under-performing FTSE 100 companies tended to earn more than those delivering ...

Protests, injuries, clashes with police, and one death. These were the chaotic scenes reminiscent of the infamous poll tax clashes of the 1990s, of a besieged London on 1 April 2009. This time it wasn't government policy that sparked the ire of 4,000 protesters. Their fury was directed at a small legion of staff — the greedy City bankers who were ...

A reader writes: Our office is rife with gossip regarding a married man in our office and young single co-worker. The man has a brand new baby at home and knowing that he is having an affair behind his wife's back is rather upsetting to some of us on moral and character grounds, but also it is making us uncomfortable (wife ...