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HR Management

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?

Electronic signatures: What HR professionals need to know

03/13/2014

For centuries, a signature at the bottom of a piece of paper has meant someone agrees with what the document says. But now many of our documents are made of electrons instead of wood pulp.
Can keystrokes carry the same legal weight as strokes of the pen?

9 New York firms make Fortune’s ‘best’ list

03/13/2014
Fortune magazine has listed its 100 best companies to work for in 2014 and nine New York firms made the cut, with two companies—grocery store Wegmans, and investment bank Gold­­man Sachs—cracking the top 50.

5 tips and facts for everyday efficiency

03/13/2014
Ask your best people to guide the company … Don’t let emails slip through your fingers … Who puts the most cuss in customer?

How to repair a troubled HR department

03/12/2014

Poor HR management leads to low morale, and executives, no doubt, have learned to marginalize HR. Use the following guidelines to take initial steps to restore confidence in HR, win over management and allow you to gradually make changes.

Adapt ‘management by walking around’ for the HR world

03/10/2014
As Yogi Berra noted, “You can observe a lot by watching.” The time-honored management-by-walking-around concept is based on this theory. It’s an effective way to discover employment problems no one would normally tell you about.

Two North Carolina firms make Fortune’s ‘best’ list

03/07/2014
For the second year in a row, Cary-based SAS ranked second on Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 best companies to work for. SAS was joined on the 2014 list by its Cary neighbor Kimley-Horn and Associates, a design consulting firm that came in at No. 73.

Who’s getting hired in HR?

03/07/2014
Only 20% of organizations are currently hiring HR pros, but those that are want HR generalists and recruiters. Here are the HR positions employers say they’re looking to fill.