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HR Management

The free-range office concept: Will it catch on?

03/24/2014
How would your employees respond if you took away their desks, their filing cabinets—even their own private offices? At the Los Angeles headquarters of CBRE Group, even the CEO has no home base within the office. The goal: reduce rent costs by using office space more efficiently, attract tech-savvy workers who are weaned on wireless and create an atmosphere of better collaboration.

Create a strong workplace ‘health culture’

03/24/2014
Employees who believe they work in an organization with a strong “health culture” perceive themselves as healthier and are more likely to change unhealthy behaviors, according to a new study.

Train & track: The secret to preventing and beating harassment lawsuits

03/20/2014
Employers aren’t required to prevent every moment of harassment in their workplaces—just to stop har­­assment whenever it occurs and to take reasonable preventive steps. Two of those: Providing anti-harassment training to every employee and tracking who gets that training.

Follow these keys to put the ‘success’ in succession planning

03/19/2014

A good succession plan ensures that your workforce is prepared to meet your organization’s future challenges. Make these measures part of your succession planning process:

How to manage and grow your A+ employees

03/19/2014
“To get people to grow,” says Sander Flaum, CEO of global advertising firm Euro RSCG Becker, “you have to help them learn something new every day.” Here are more of his thoughts on what it takes to find and keep the best workers.

5 tips to start taking control of your time

03/18/2014
Just a few months into the year and you’re already playing catch-up? It’s not too late to make 2014 the year you start successfully managing your schedule. Here are five tips from time management expert Patricia Hutchings.

Never hesitate to make legit rule changes

03/17/2014
Have you found that some of your disciplinary rules are too lenient? Don’t hold back on stiffening your rules just because you fear the first employees subject to harsher penalties might sue you.

Handbook is key to misconduct discharge

03/17/2014

How your handbook reads is critical when you want to contest unemployment benefits for a former employee who was terminated for misconduct. Document that the em­­ployee received the handbook. Track any warnings that led up to the firing.

Container Store takes 260 hours to train each new hire

03/17/2014

One of the Container Store Group’s “foundation principles” is “1 = 3”—one great employee equals three good ones when it comes to productivity. And the 63-store chain only hires about 3% of all who apply. Then, it pays them 50% to 100% more than its competitors, and spends at least 260 hours training each new employee.

Do we have to tolerate ‘Duck Dynasty religion’ hat?

03/14/2014
Q. We let a female cashier at our restaurant wear a religious head covering, despite our policy against hats. Now, a male employee has started wearing a camouflage cap, claiming his religious idol is Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty.” He says his “religion” is sincere. Can we tell him to remove the cap?