HRGuru

A cook at an Indiana restaurant suffered a job-related back injury, and a workers' compensation board said the employer must pay for a medical procedure. What makes this news? The procedure was weight-loss surgery. Also this summer, the Oregon Supreme Court said an employer must pay for surgery for an employee who suffered a workplace knee injury, not for knee replacement, ...

Jack Sullivan couldn't have been happier after landing his dream job. The position, salary and perks were exactly what he was looking for. But after the initial euphoria wore off, he discovered that going to work was becoming the same daily grind all over again. Although he couldn't put his finger on exactly what was wrong, he knew one thing for ...

I was looking at a post by Paul Hebert’s i2i about service anniversary awards and it got me thinking about the inherent ridiculousness of the whole concept. Why are we giving awards for people sticking it out? “Oh hey Jimmy, you made it through another year. Here’s your bronze pin. After that, you can get your silver, gold and then platinum ...

If your bead on the future is looking blurry these days, you're not alone. The global recession has thrown off a lot of organizations' expectations and predictions. So, it's little wonder that many are now striving to do a much better job of strategic planning for the future, especially in the area of talent. Workforce planning, or WFP, is not a ...

A growing number of jobseekers find themselves in the midst of a long-term job search. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. jobless rate soared to a four-year high of 5.7% in July 2008 and the average job search took more than four months to net results. However, some critics would put this number and the number of the unemployed ...

While economists are declaring the worst is over, there’s no doubt businesses are still operating conservatively. The forecasts indicate we will continue to see unemployment in the double digits for awhile. For businesses, this means it could be necessary to consider contractors and/or outsourcing to help with projects. It only seems obvious that instead of hiring, companies might turn to consultants. ...

  Are your senior leaders committed to helping employees manage the competing demands of their work and personal lives? If you work for an organization on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list, your answer would probably be a resounding “yes”. On nearly all of the best workplaces’ websites, there is a clear description of the specific work-life policies and benefits that they ...

In the toil of everyday working and just staying abreast with the needs of a business, it is easy to lose track of the constantly evolving organism that an organization is. If you don’t stop to check what state your organization is in and where it is headed, the shape it takes on it’s own might surprise you, to say the ...

The current job market is challenging for everyone. Job hunters are finding themselves in a long, grueling job hunt – despite years of experience and impressive degrees. Yet, many job hunters are finding success. There is no single formula for job search success. However, Daniel Johnson, Jr., host of How I Got My Job, has noticed that successful job hunters do ...

Appearances can be perilously deceiving, especially if Americans do not look any further than Nidal Malik Hasan's Palestinian descent, his Muslim affiliation, his Middle Eastern-style clothing, and reports of his having shouted out "Allahu Akbar," an expression of praise to God, before allegedly gunning down dozens of soldiers. Superficially, the Fort Hood rampage looks like terrorism. Hasan's murder spree appears, however, ...

Who are you, not as a leader but as a person? Where are you in your life, what do you value and how does this impact or inform your leadership? It's not a question of "if" this impacts or informs your leadership, it is a question of "how." Really, it is. In her post, Be Who You Are, writer Becky Robinson ...

Before the age of information technology, the employees of many companies drove to work and, upon arriving, often spent half an hour gathered around the water cooler to hear the latest company gossip and scandal before retiring into separate walled offices to work. That is where socializing ended. Engineers working on important projects often found the information they needed by reading ...

Ah, the holidays -- a time to rejoice, be merry and enjoy a well-earned break until the new year. But if you're job searching, it's also a great time to kick your job search into high gear. Believe it or not, the holiday season can be a promising time to secure a new position. "Companies...want to start the new year with ...

A reader writes: I have been working at a software company for a little over a year now. I like the company, we produce a product which I like, the mission statement is very focused on making a difference in education, and the culture of the overall company is very relaxed and employee centered (jeans and free lunch!). In addition to ...

In these uncertain economic times, it is little surprise that HR professionals everywhere have major compensation-related concerns. Most specifically, the problem is money - the sheer lack of it. For too many businesses, profits are down, making it ever more difficult to meet payroll needs - never mind about raises for next year. lOMA's Setting & Managing 2070 Compensation Survey uncovers ...

Providing the same benefits at a lower cost can simply be a case of making changes behind the scenes, says Tom Washington In the theater world, a good stagehand should not be seen. Dressed in black, their task is to work in the background, shifting props and scenery to ensure maximum enjoyment for the audience. A similar role must be performed ...

Employers should not be seduced by flashy graphics when choosing a flex platform, but they must ensure it performs the functions they want efficiently, says Jenny Keefe. A flexible benefits website with sleek looks is easy to fall in love with. But employers need to do a little homework before rushing to sign with a provider, because there is a lot ...

Why do we think of energy in conventional terms? With right approach and motivation, humans can be as charged. At the ripe old age of 81, Lal Krishna Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party had to travel to several places by air in the summer heat in the previous two months, as he was projected as the prime ministerial candidate by ...

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 ...