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Pennsylvania’s business climate rated largely favorable

12/21/2010

Pennsylvania has the third-best business climate north of the Mason-Dixon Line and the 12th best in the nation, according to Site Selection magazine. Only Ohio and Indiana ranked higher among Northern states.

L.A. postal facility gets shocking message from OSHA

12/21/2010
OSHA delivered a harsh message to the U.S. Postal Service’s International Service Center in Los Angeles in the form of 18 citations for unsafe working conditions. The problem: Mail processing equipment could cause fatal electrical shocks.

Here’s the right way to recoup training costs

12/21/2010
It’s expensive to train employees, especially if the content is highly specialized. Smart employers protect their investments by getting employees to agree to repay training costs if they leave soon after receiving the valuable benefit. Just don’t mess with the employee’s final paycheck.

Lessons learned from the big WikiLeaks breach

12/21/2010
“If the recent WikiLeaks release of more than a quarter-million sensitive government files is not a wake-up call to companies about the need to proactively protect confidential information, nothing is,” says Michael Greco, a partner at Fisher & Phillips LLP.

The pain truth: Prescription drug abuse on the rise at work

12/17/2010

Employee drug abuse continues to be the trend that just won’t go away. And it’s not just illegal drugs causing problems these days. Quest Diagnostics estimates that the use of prescription painkillers by American workers and job applicants has increased by 40% since 2005. More than 70% of prescription drug abusers hold jobs, upping the risk of work-related injuries.

New IT system helps Barilla cut down turnover

12/16/2010
Pasta maker Barilla America scored a big “zero” with employees last year: zero work stoppages due to faulty processes, plus overall employee turnover decreased to 8.1%. Reason: A $50 million overhaul of the organization’s 18-year-old IT systems and work processes gave employees the tools they needed to increase speed and improve efficiency.

Is a policy still a policy if it’s not in writing?

12/15/2010

Will a court acknowledge a company “policy” that doesn’t exist on paper? One court recently did—even though the policy wasn’t written anywhere—because the policy was being followed by all managers. Still, when in doubt, it’s best to write it out.

At hiring meetings, think like a consultant

12/15/2010

When new positions open up, HR professionals often meet with hiring managers to gather information about the job and develop hiring strategies. The problem: Too many HR pros take the wrong approach—a passive “order taking” approach—to these intake meetings. Instead, it’s wiser—for the organization’s success and the HR professional’s reputation—for HR to take a consultative approach to these meetings.

Catch 22: The records-retention steps you must always be ready to take

12/14/2010

Employers and HR professionals hear it all the time: You must be prepared to preserve relevant documents and produce them if you are sued. You can take some preparatory steps to ensure that you can comply with inevitable litigation holds and are proficiently primed to assist your attorneys should litigation occur. This list of 22 to-do’s can guide your document and data preservation and retention procedures:

7 tips for reducing your workers’ comp costs

12/14/2010
You can significantly reduce the cost of your organization’s workers’ compensation premiums by following a program of accident prevention, better claims management and prevention of fraud and abuse. Seven steps you should take: