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Employee Relations

Discipline meetings: 4 tips for doing them right

01/11/2013
If they’re doing their jobs, HR and managers must periodically have “the talk” with problem employees. How this meeting is conducted can mean the difference between turning around a marginal employee and opening the organization to costly litigation.

To err is human: Fear of failure at work

01/08/2013
Wonder what your organization’s staff is stressing over? For 28% of employees in a new Accountemps survey, it’s making a mistake at work.

10 ways to overcome ‘negative vibes’ among your staff

01/07/2013
A hard-core negative attitude that starts with just one employee can quickly infect an entire department (or a whole company) if the manager doesn’t rein it in quickly. Here are 10 tips for confronting em­ployees whose negative behavior has begun to affect co-workers and the company:

Business students: We want to work for Google!

01/04/2013
For the fourth year, Google tops the list of companies business students would most like to work for, according to “World’s Most Attractive Employers 2012” report. Students cited Google’s great benefits and culture of innovation.

Use discipline record to select employees for RIF

01/01/2013
Absent a union contract or other established rule, you don’t have to use seniority to decide which em­­ployee should be laid off. You can use any objective measure.

When performance slips, don’t let past good reviews affect decision-making

01/01/2013

Some employees do well for years, only to have their performance slip. There may come a time when you have to let the employee go. But what about all those glowing evaluations from years past? If you can prove that the employee’s performance has genuinely declined, those earlier evaluations won’t cause any trouble in court.

How to win discrimination lawsuits: Carefully document real performance problems

01/01/2013
Smart employers carefully track performance over the long haul—not just when a manager decides he’s had enough and wants to terminate an employee for poor performance. It’s important to lay the groundwork early on, especially if a new hire has obvious performance problems right after coming on board.

How to Create an Employee Performance Log

01/01/2013
Some managers tend to evaluate team members based on their most recent positive or negative encounter. This hap­pens most often when a manager has no record of an employee’s performance over the past months or year. It’s not a good way to conduct a review, and it’s not fair to the employee. An increasingly popular and easily imple­mented solution is to create an employee performance log.

New York towns may discipline cops outside terms of union contract

12/30/2012

A recent New York Court of Appeals decision gives New York municipalities the right to discipline police officers outside of the collective bargaining framework. The decision stated that the New York State Town Law (known as the Taylor Law) governs police discipline regardless of any existing CBA.

Beware ADA claims if alleged victim isn’t satisfied with harassment investigation

12/30/2012

Some sexual harassment complaints don’t pan out. If, after investigating, you conclude that no harassment took place, the employee who complained may not be satisfied. How should you handle her? Your best bet is to address her concerns about having to work around the alleged harasser.