Employee Relations

Objective measures are most persuasive, so focus on performance criteria

09/02/2019

Remind supervisors to always focus on performance—not intangibles like “attitude”—using as many objective measures as possible. If an employee later alleges some form of discrimination, you’ll be able to demonstrate that you kept things professional by focusing on what really matters: doing the job.

Fantasy football could cost employers $9 billion

08/29/2019

An estimated 12.5 million adults will play fantasy football this year, according to 2018 data from Nielsen Scarborough. With an estimated total of nearly two-thirds of those adults employed, that means over 7.5 million workers will be researching their teams during work hours.

Write memos that people will read

08/28/2019

If a subject is important enough for you to write a memo, take the time to write it in a way that people will read it through. Deliver effective messages with these actions.

Dropping ratings doesn’t mean better feedback

08/22/2019

While the number of companies that don’t use performance ratings and rankings has doubled in the past six years, only 15% of companies globally have eliminated them, says a new Mercer report.

Track every disciplinary action in detail

08/14/2019

Document all the details when you discipline or terminate. That way, you can review past discipline and compare it with currently proposed action. Similar conduct should result in similar punishment.

4 ways managers can cultivate intrinsic motivation

08/14/2019

Intrinsically motivated employees want to succeed because of the internal benefit they experience—like pride or perhaps the internal satisfaction of simply feeling they’ve been productive.

3 cardinal rules of documentation

08/09/2019

Strong documentation systems must be built on three basic principles.

Heck yes it’s Monday! Let’s get to work!

08/06/2019

Some workers go to bed Sunday nights dreading the workweek to come, but Mondays and Tuesdays—especially in the morning—are when employees are most productive, suggests new research from staffing firm Accountemps.

It was just a meeting, not false imprisonment

08/02/2019

An employee whose supervisor ordered her to take a seat in a conference room has lost her request for a trial on charges of false imprisonment.

How to deliver bad news to employees

07/30/2019

Even when business is good, HR occasionally must do the organization’s dirty work by delivering bad news. The next time you have to pass along bad news to employees, remember these pointers.