The recession has plenty of employees distracted and anxious—about their jobs, their 401(k)s and their monthly bills. That’s not good news at a time when you...
Q. Are we required to call back an employee who’s been laid off? The person wasn’t a responsible employee and called off often. Are we obligated to call...
White Paper published by The HR Specialist, copyright 2009 ____________________ It happens to every manager: You sit down to prepare a staff member’s review and...
Question: “In my performance review, my boss included some negative comments from his own manager. Since I don’t agree with these remarks, I said so in the...
I work as an HR professional in a nonprofit company. I was asked by my boss to write goals and a mission statement for my job. I'm lost! How should I get started on this...
It’s
smart to set reasonably lofty goals for employees. But is there a danger in
setting those goals too high? One court recently let a jury decide
whether a...
Our company is struggling to survive. One of our employees has demanded an increase in the bonus that we have traditionally paid in the past. We don’t know we will...
America’s foremost business philosopher, Jim Rohn, says the biggest mistake people make is thinking they work for someone else, rather than themselves. When you...
Question: “We are in the process of conducting annual employee performance evaluations and I am hearing complaints about the form we have used for the past two...
We're looking for simple ways to boost morale as we weather the recession. I'd like to start an "employee of the month" recognition program. Who should choose the...
When faced with a poor-performing or disruptive employee, it’s easy for supervisors to play the wait-and-see game and simply hope the situation will improve. But...
Question: "For eight years, I
received 'outstanding' performance reviews. Two months ago, I got a new
boss who doesn't seem to like me. When she did my annual...
Question: Employers often feel cornered when poor-performing employees take
job-protected FMLA leave. Can you terminate such employees while
they’re out on...
Good news for managers and supervisors: Giving an employee a poor performance review and then placing the employee on an improvement plan isn’t an adverse...
It seems inevitable. Anytime you award variable bonuses to some employees, there’s apt to be some grumbling from those who got less or nothing at all. But if you...
Today's human-resources executives have added a new term to their vocabulary: competency-based systems. These tools demystify what constitutes solid performance for both...
Question: “One of our employees is going through a divorce. Although she says she
is doing OK, lately she is making more and more mistakes on tasks that
she used...
Just about everyone with an ounce of ambition wants to be promoted. But in most organizations, there’s only so much room for managers and supervisors. Still,...
Do you suspect an employee may have a mental or psychological disability that may need accommodation—even though he hasn’t mentioned it? Tread carefully. If...
