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HR Management

How to calm an angry employee: tips from HR pros

09/01/2007

A participant in our HR Specialist Forum posed this question: “When some employees come to the HR office, they carry on like they’re at home yelling at their children. What can we do to stop this?" Here’s how some HR professionals replied.

Dump your paper to-Do list; manage tasks online

09/01/2007

Various on-screen task-tracking tools can keep your to-do list front and center on your computer. In addition to your e-mail program’s task tool, check out these web applications …

Swamped by e-mail? Employees declare ‘E-mail Bankruptcy’

09/01/2007

Some workers are so far behind in unread e-mails that they’re deleting everything and starting from scratch with an empty in-box. Others are swearing off e-mail forever. A better response: Prevent overload in the first place with better e-mail management skills. Here are four ways to retake control of your in-box …

Swap big documents quickly without overloading e-mail

09/01/2007

How? “Tubes” is a free download that allows you to drag and drop files into a virtual tube to deliver documents instantly. It creates secure peer-to-peer connections (or “tubes”) between your machine and another one …

E-mail is forever—So be careful what you say

09/01/2007

An ill-worded e-mail, unlike a phone conversation, can come back to haunt you. Deleting e-mail doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, or that a recipient hasn’t saved, printed or forwarded it. Plus, there are plenty of computer experts out there who can recreate or retrieve deleted e-mail messages. The best policy is to assume that whatever is in an e-mail can be used against you in a court of law …

Phone privacy: It’s your property

09/01/2007

Q. Can employers eavesdrop on their employees’ phone conversations at work, or listen to their voicemail messages in the company voicemail system? …

Suspicious of claimed injury? Examine records carefully for prior problems

09/01/2007

Too often, employees who suffer a minor accident at work milk that injury for extended workers’ compensation benefits. That’s why it’s important to diligently pursue suspected false claims with your insurance carrier. That may involve alerting it to your suspicions and reviewing the employee’s medical records to see if what he or she is complaining about is really a preexisting condition and not the result of a more recent injury …

Keep written records showing discipline rationale

09/01/2007

The decks are stacked against employees who claim retaliation when there is no direct evidence of discrimination—if employers keep complete written records of their disciplinary actions. Those cases often hinge on allegations the employer trumped up disciplinary charges to cover up retaliation. That can be difficult for an employee to prove if there is a solid paper trail documenting the employee’s infractions and the resulting discipline …

Employee access to personnel files

09/01/2007

Q. Who has the right to view personnel files? …

Do you destroy hiring documents? Track process anyway

09/01/2007

Nothing generates paper like the hiring process, especially if it involves multiple interviews and committee meetings. What do you do with all that paper? If you destroy it, be prepared to show you do so routinely. Otherwise, a jury or judge may view the destruction as evidence you have something to hide …