Employee Relations

Use your ‘poker face’ when hearing complaints

09/14/2017

When listening to employee complaints of potential discrimination or harassment, your brain may be thinking “You’ve got to be kidding me!” but your face and voice need to say, “I hear your complaint and will investigate it fully.”

Are you obligated to investigate before firing? For at-will employees, you have discretion

09/12/2017

What kind of investigation, if any, is required before an employer can fire a worker for what it believes is some kind of misconduct?

Employers like open space, employees don’t

09/12/2017

Wide open spaces aren’t all they’re cracked up to be in the office, a new survey of workers shows. Employees polled by staffing firm Robert Half said open floor plans are among the least productive and most stressful work environments.

How one company saw the light on stay interviews

09/10/2017

What will you do today to find out if your best employee is thinking of leaving you?

Meet the new boss: How to approach an existing team

09/09/2017

Whether you’re managing a new team as a result of a promotion, job change or an organizational restructure, stepping in to lead a pre-existing team—and the established dynamics, group norms and expectations they tend to possess—demands a thoughtful management strategy. Here are some tips on how to manage a new staff.

The 4 essential skills of a master manager

09/07/2017

Studies of top managers have found it’s hard to be an effective team leader without having some mastery of these skill sets.

Should you ‘write up’ an employee?

08/23/2017

When it comes to negative employee behavior, should you jump to write a formal written warning? It depends. Start with a face-to-face meeting to discuss issues and set expectations, but if that doesn’t work, draft a written warning.

Time spent texting counts as absenteeism

08/17/2017

Workers who waste time on their personal electronics may be present physically but otherwise absent.

7 things leaders should never say

08/13/2017

Dave Kerpen, the author of Likeable Leadership, suggests what top managers (including execs and HR professionals) should never say in the workplace.

Courts often cut slack for missing minor deadlines

08/09/2017

Don’t expect a quick dismissal of a lawsuit just because the employee or his lawyers miss a deadline. Courts are quick to grant extensions in the service of “justice” and won’t come down hard for seemingly minor deadline misses.