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HR Management

Drafting an auto-use policy? Here’s a crash course

01/25/2010

If your employees travel on company business, use company cars or rent cars for business, make sure you have an auto-use policy that makes it clear that zany antics, such as one employee’s 600-mile detour to Dixie, fall outside the scope of employment …

Communication is top benefit at Arizona American Water

01/25/2010

At Arizona American Water, HR goes “overboard” with employee communication, says Senior HR Manager Linda Stillman, sending electronic newsletters around the office, paper newsletters to employees’ homes and setting up teleconferences to share information.

Soft benefits fill in for small employer

01/22/2010

With just 135 employees, staffing agency Winter, Wyman in Boston is limited when it comes to employee benefits, says Michelle Roccia, senior VP of corporate organizational development. So it offers the standard medical and dental insurance, and then managers come up with “soft benefits” to keep employees happy and make the organization attractive to applicants.

How should we prohibit texting while driving?

01/22/2010

Q. I saw in the paper last week that texting while driving is no longer allowed in North Carolina. Should my company have a policy regarding this?

When technological change means jobs are changing too, document the training you offer

01/22/2010

For years, one of the biggest drivers of improved worker productivity has been better technology in the workplace. But all that technological innovation means that employees who want to keep up must be open to training. How you handle that training can make a big difference when the time comes to lay off employees you no longer need because your company has become more efficient or whose skills have become obsolete.

Disciplining safety violators: Don’t just holler

01/20/2010

What do your supervisors do when they catch workers breaking a major safety rule? Simply yell at the worker? A new court ruling highlights the importance of enforcing safety rules with discipline and documentation.

Reprimand, mandate training to cut bias liability

01/19/2010

All employees, regardless of which protected class they belong to, have the right to work in an environment free from hostility. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to fire every co-worker who does something that might be interpreted as hostile. Sometimes the appropriate response is to reprimand the co-worker and educate her so she’ll change her ways.

The HR I.Q. Test: January ’10

01/18/2010

Test your knowledge of recent trends in employment law, comp & benefits and other HR issues with our monthly mini-quiz …

Checking up on sick workers: The 6 do’s and don’ts

01/18/2010
You probably don’t check up on most employees who call in sick because they do it infrequently and most likely are being truthful. However, every organization has its share of workers who abuse sick-leave policies. No state or federal laws regulate how employers can handle workers who call in sick. But beware: Going too far to ferret out shirkers could invite discrimination and harassment claims, and unnecessarily damage morale.

Work with IT staff to make sure all HR documents are easily accessible

01/14/2010

It’s a business imperative that’s especially important for HR: Make sure your computer systems allow you to retrieve critical information immediately on demand. That’s essential if you are ever sued, because long delays in providing documentary evidence can lead to needless litigation costs—and could even mean you’ll lose the case.