Employee Relations

3 out of 4 workers agree: We’re working with adolescents!

09/23/2015

It’s not a jungle out there in the workplace anymore—certain behaviors are making it more like middle school.

Details make the difference when defending discipline

09/16/2015

We’ve said it before: Document every disciplinary action and be specific. The employer in this case won because it had excellent contemporaneous records to explain its disciplinary action.

Don’t confuse coaching with feedback

09/14/2015

Renée Robertson, founder and CEO of Trilogy Development, explains the subtle difference.

Older workers ‘coasting’?

09/14/2015

Here’s how to handle those employees who think they’ve earned the right to ease into retirement.

5 Ways to Make Your Virtual Meetings More Engaging

09/02/2015

While we all go to lots of meetings (too many?), more and more people are spending more and more time in meetings using technology, rather than being face to face with everyone. And while meetings are still meetings and people are still people, virtual meetings are different. One of the biggest challenges with virtual meetings is keeping people engaged and participating. Having led many virtual meetings, I’ve found five things that can help make a difference to increase participation and engagement, and reduce distractions for meeting participants. Let me share them with you here.

How to write performance goals: 10 sample phrases

09/02/2015

Well-written performance goals help energize employees and point them in right direction. But some managers and HR pros have trouble finding the right words. Here are 10 phrases to adapt, from 2600 Phrases for Setting Effective Performance Goals by Paul Falcone.

Back to school: 4 teacher tactics to use with your staff

08/28/2015

Teachers are some of the first “managers” that people ever encounter. Teachers organize each day to get maximum results from their charges, and they must deal with a wide variety of skills levels, motivation levels and communication challenges along the way. Here are four ideas worth borrowing from teachers to bring to the workplace.

You can tell your employees where they’re headed–can’t you?

08/26/2015

A recent survey revealed many people would be more engaged in their work if only their bosses could paint a picture of their future.

Disability isn’t ‘get out of jail free’ card–it must be revealed before discipline

08/24/2015

Some workers who learn they’re about to be disciplined or even fired for poor behavior may try to use an alleged disability as an excuse. But if they never revealed before that they have a disability, it’s too late to try that tactic on the eve of being punushed.

Anticipate lawsuit by offering second chance, fresh supervisor to struggling employee