Most organizations have Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) if they offer any type of insurance.  These resources may come through medical, dental or ancillary providers.  Now’s a great time to remind staff about them as the holidays can be a time of high stress for everyone. Holiday times bring their own chaos and heightened emotions.  The idea that it’s a celebratory season where it appears others are out shopping at leisure, enjoying holiday shows or other sites, buying the

It’s the time of year when we often reflect on where we are and what we’ve accomplished, but have you expressed being thankful for your staff?  It’s easy to take things for granted but we all like expressions of appreciation periodically. When staff make extra efforts, do you make note?  Have you acknowledged their work? If asked, would they say you appreciate them?  When is the last time you made the effort to show your gratitude? If you have staff who are not doing their jo

Here’s some creative thinking—why don’t we make meetings productive?  How many times have you had that thought as you sat through a meeting, reflecting on how you could be better using your time? But what have you done about it?  Have you taken any action to make meetings more productive or taught your staff how to make them count? If you already come to every meeting with an agenda, a clear purpose, a current and future action plan that ends with a list of specific accountab

It seems like a natural progression to promote a star employee to be a supervisor in their career.  After all, don’t we want all employees to be stars, and who better to show the way than someone who’s proven themselves? The problem with this practice is that we end up putting someone in a management role who may be great in production or some other aspect of the workforce, but they can't manage people. And rarely do we have the time or resources to provide the training and p

We recently celebrated HSA Day, and it suggested reminding staff about financial benefits. We tend to discuss benefits like retirement savings, Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) annually, but is that enough? Companies provide benefits as a way of attracting and retaining staff, but they're often discussed during the time of lots of choices where attention may be divided.  Additionally, it’s not unusual to see an employee’s eye cross when discu

What is free speech for employees?  Should it be defined and discussed?  Does it matter if the speech is made at work or outside of work?...

Many of us have heard of quiet quitting but what is ghost working and how does that compare? Quiet quitting consists of employees who do...

With mental health concerns, stressors in daily news, and strife seemingly everywhere, how can we promote civility in the workforce? ...

Most managers have heard of exit interviews, but what are stay interviews and can they be helpful? Stay interviews are conducted with...

The year is flying by and it’s a good time to review annual goals! It’s easy to “set and forget” goals each year but if we don’t put...

As an HR person, I understand that policies are important and being consistent in how we follow them can protect both the company and...

Most of us like to think we’re fair-minded, but do we realize we may practice age bias at work? I recently read an article about age...

We want our employees to learn and grow, but have you looked at your promotion process lately?  Do you have one?  Does your staff know...

Yes, human resource professionals love employee documentation.  I’ve seen many managers roll their eyes at the request, and I understand...

Regardless of industry, and whether you have 1 or 1,000 employees, we all face the possibility that workplace violence could enter our...

When’s the last time you thought about the meaning of a productive meeting? I was reading an article this weekend about “bad” meetings,...

As employers, a large part of your budget relates to staffing, but are you maximizing employee benefits?  We typically have benefit...

We’re at a time of year when many people get sick, so how should managers handle unexpected absences?  Of course, a lot of this depends...

As an HR person, I’ve learned to differentiate between exempt and nonexempt employees and jobs, but many people don’t really understand...

Most of us enjoy taking time off occasionally, but why should managers encourage vacations?  And what does that look like? Several of us...