When I tell someone that I work as a fractional HR Consultant, I’m often greeted with blank stares or eye rolls. What is a fractional HR Consultant and how can it help businesses? Anyone working with people knows there can be challenges and risks. So how do organizations maximize their use of employees and ensure staff are motivated and fulfilled? Fractional HR Consultants can step in and help determine potential miscues and risks by coming into the organization, auditing

We often encourage our staff to be creative, but how do we define creativity? While we encourage staff to speak up with new ideas and processes, are we actively discouraging some changes and sending mixed messages? Creativity can be new ideas and processes, certainly, but it can also be achieved in resolving problems, preparing budgets, and thinking differently. If we assign a task to someone and they go about working it contrary to what we expected, do we step in and stop

If you’ve thought about being an entrepreneur and starting your own business, please check out the book Oh Yes I Did (available on Amazon). I wrote the book with eight other entrepreneurs, telling our stories of what encouraged us to start our own businesses and lessons learned along the way. Whether you’ve always wanted to branch out on your own or circumstances led you to rethink working for others, you’ll likely find something that resonates in the book. In my situation,

As we get closer to the last quarter, we need to remind staff to review their year-end plans and make sure things are on target. Where is your staff with their PTO—do they have a lot of available time off they’ll need to use between now and the end of the year, or are they completely out and will be scrounging through year end? Do you need to discuss how to manage either scenario? Do you/they have established goals that need to be completed by year end? Where are they in g

Unfortunately, employee related scams are constant these days. From interviews with employees and/or companies who aren’t what they seem to emails that include malicious links to fake websites that hope to trick individuals to provide sensitive information, there are lots of opportunities to be scammed. Have you talked with staff about scams? Do you have any processes in place to try to prevent or educate your staff from being tricked? It’s easy to think we know what to look

Frequently in organizations, managers make a rush to judgement, extolling bad attitudes, horrible decisions, and any number of problematic employee actions. In my early career, I would hear these stories and be immediately outraged, frustrated that employees would act in such unacceptable ways. Over time, however, I learned that perception is in the eye of the beholder, and often these “horrendous” acts, were simply misunderstandings or misinterpretations of events. While it

Have you thought about the talents that need to be developed in your company and the possibility of upskilling your staff? Do you work with them to find out what they want to study and encourage them to continuously learn and grow! Or are you too busy with day to day needs to worry about the future? Not encouraging learning and upskilling is short-sited and will cause issues down the road. If staff aren’t constantly growing and learning new talents, they’re more likely to

Making hard decisions is not one of the fun things managers do, but it’s easy to delay making choices because they’re difficult. Often, this comes at a cost to the organization and staff. Managers postpone talking with employees who are struggling often because they’re not sure what to say, or they’re irritated with the employee, or they just don’t want to deal with the conflict. The employee may not be aware they’re doing something wrong and/or others see an employee getti

Today is Women’s Retirement Security Day, dedicated to improving retirement outcomes for women. For various reasons, women’s median 401k is reported as significantly lower than men’s as women contribute less to retirement accounts. There are plenty of reasons, including the gender pay gap, more time away from work over the career span, longer life expectancy, along with other factors. So what does this mean for you and your staff? Concern over personal, parental and offspri

Do you have bullies at work? Is it possible you could be the bully or an enabler? There is a lot of drama in the world these days and it can seem more acceptable to be rude or to yell or to treat fellow employees poorly. But if that’s going on in your organization, you should rethink that type of culture. People tend to be less than their best when they’re frustrated, nervous or afraid. If you have someone in your organization with a short fuse, what damage are they causin

There are times in most of our lives where we need mental toughness to get through whatever roadblock we’re facing. Projects that are difficult for various reasons, physical exertion or illness that strains our bodies, or even difficult choices we make at times require us to find some mental resources that we may not even realize we have. In order to call upon that mental toughness, we need to hone the skill and determine how best to enhance it. Working with our staff to mo

We often think of entrepreneurs as individuals starting their own companies. But staff can be entrepreneurs in the organization they already work for! While being an entrepreneur typically involves assuming personal and financial risk, the key aspect in being an entrepreneur is in driving economic growth and innovation. We all want that within our organizations, and not all individuals want to assume the financial and personal risk involved in branching out alone. So what d

As managers, it’s important to live in the moment. Life is flying by at a rapid pace for most of us, and it’s easy to lose track of time. Living in the moment allows us to enjoy fleeting moments of opportunities that can provide meaning, spark creativity and/or encourage laughter, things we can all use. Remembering to pause occasionally is a good lesson for our teams. Getting too caught up in our projects or tasks can mean we lose sight of what we’re trying to accomplish.

Most of us have worked for someone who was great at part of their job, but when promoted to a leadership position, it was clear they were bad people managers. Not everyone should be put in a leadership position. Many people don’t want it, but they do want to move up in an organization. Often they see that as one and the same, thinking they may not have a choice but to take a management role for career growth. Individuals who aren’t good with people or don’t want to manage i

As managers, it’s easy to look at our role as coach or teacher, but there are always things we can learn from our staff, encouraging a culture of curiosity and reciprocity. While we may have more experience or are potentially skilled in different areas, staff have unique perspectives that provide opportunities to learn new ways of approaching problems. Work with your staff to encourage brainstorming and alternative viewpoints. Let staff take turns taking charge of ongoing me

Have you discussed emergency savings with staff? Do you and/or they understand how important it is to have some money set aside for unknown expenses? Does it seem impossible for you or your employees to identify “extra” money these days to use for that purpose? It would be nice if we could budget our expenses without having to worry about unexpected needs, like car or house repairs, illness, etc. Unfortunately, we don’t have crystal balls that tell us when we’re going to n

When people hear 'crucial conversation,' they often feel uncomfortable, fearing conflict and its consequences. This intimidation stems from underlying concerns, including loss of emotions, rejection, and vulnerability. Yet, flipping the conversation reveals a focus on addressing vital personal and professional growth issues. It also serves as a proactive tool for management, maintaining open communication to rectify errors before they escalate.

In our discussion, we explore mental health challenges at work and the responsibilities of employers. Recognizing the impact of burnout, stress, and anxiety on performance and well-being, employers must address these issues. By prioritizing mental well-being, fostering a mindful environment, and taking actionable steps, we can enhance employee engagement and promote productivity.

Barbara Giesing of BAG HR Consulting calls herself a “drama exterminator”—helping small businesses eliminate workplace conflict, clarify roles, and build strong, compliant teams. From fixing broken onboarding to saving thousands in unnecessary benefits, she ensures businesses grow with clarity, accountability, and compassion. She blends traditional HR wisdom with modern tools like AI while keeping people—and their dignity—at the center.

We’re bombarded on a daily basis with news of people behaving badly towards each other, so we need to promote and practice kindness in our lives and with our employees. What does that mean? When you walk into the office each day or log on for remote work, do you greet the people you see all the time or do you just get right to it? Do you ask how they are and mean it or do you pay no attention to any response and just move on? When you’re having a tough day, do you take it o