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Employee Relations

For employees, Dayton is the happiest place to work

03/13/2013
No offense to its contented residents, but who would have thought? Dayton, Ohio, has the nation’s happiest workers, according to a survey of 36,000 workers by CareerBliss.com.

5 tips: How to rein in expense account fraud

03/08/2013
The typical organization loses 5% of its revenues to fraud each year, and 16.6% of fraud losses trace back to expense account schemes, according to a report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Benefits alert: Health insurance exchange notice requirement postponed

03/01/2013
The health care reform law required employers to begin notifying employees on March 1 about the availability of state-based exchanges as an option for buying health insurance. But acknowledging the obvious—that the state exchanges are nowhere near ready to go live—the Department of Labor has temporarily rescinded the notice requirement.

Is it legal to exclude out-of-state employees from our annual outing?

03/01/2013

Q. We’ve traditionally sponsored a springtime cruise for our Pennsylvania employees—mainly executives and directors. However, it will cost too much to invite our newest employees, who work in three neighboring states. Can we sponsor different events for staff in each geographical area?

How should we conduct an investigation?

03/01/2013

Q. An employee lodged a complaint about a supervisor’s misconduct. I know we’ll need to perform an investigation, but I’m not sure where to start. What’s the best way to proceed?

If employee refuses to cooperate with investigation, feel free to fire

02/26/2013
Not everyone wants to cooperate when an employer begins investigating discrimination or harassment charges. One solution is to tell all em­­ployees they must cooperate. Otherwise, they risk being disciplined. If that doesn’t work, you now have an option …

Effective evaluations are management tools, legal protection

02/25/2013
Ah, the “halo effect”—the practice of inflating an employee’s annual review to increase morale and avoid the unpleasantness of pointing out underperformers’ weaknesses. Too bad the halo strategy sparks legal risks.

Good performance reviews don’t outweigh later discipline

02/20/2013
Sometimes, an employee does something so outrageous that you have no choice but to fire her. If she sues, you may worry that her past good reviews will create trouble. They won’t if you documented the incident leading to the discharge.

Documentation key to post-complaint discipline

02/20/2013
HR pros often think twice before disciplining an employee who has complained of a serious workplace problem such as sexual harassment. It’s natural to worry about an add-on retaliation claim. But as long as discipline is clearly warranted, don’t second-guess yourself.

Working at home boosts debt counselors’ productivity

02/19/2013
More than 60% of employees at Orlando, Fla.-based InCharge Debt Solutions work from home. The payoffs have been impressive.