Employee Relations

6 common reasons bosses withhold praise

05/23/2019

Employees who are recognized for their efforts are generally contented—and contented employees rarely sue their employers. Train managers to beware these common excuses for withholding praise—and what to do instead.

5 questions to ask employees

05/22/2019

Fierce Conversations, a business consulting company, recommends all leaders, at their earliest convenience, take the time to ask their employees five essential questions that get to the heart of their role within the company.

Managing depressed employees: What supervisors need to know

05/22/2019

Given the American Psychiatric Association’s estimate that one in six people will experience depression at some time in his or her life, chances are significant that you’ll deal with the issue among your staff. Yet despite its prevalence, don’t expect team members to readily come forward.

Is it possible to discipline for body odor?

05/16/2019

Q. We have several employees who apparently don’t use deodorant and have very offensive body odor. What can we do to get them to clean up their act? Can we discipline them? Our dress code does specify that all employees shall practice good hygiene.

Healthy culture pays off in financial and people terms

04/30/2019

Cultural factors such as collaboration, employee engagement, employee retention and customer satisfaction have a clear relationship with revenue growth, researchers have found.

3 steps to turn around a culture

04/25/2019

If morale has tanked, customer complaints are rampant, and turnover is high, a hostile work environment may be to blame. You will need to address the underlying issues in order to overhaul the culture and create a work environment that people are happy and proud to be a part of. Start here.

Take informal, interim reviews seriously, too

04/25/2019

Plenty of research is floating around that supports the idea that annual performance reviews aren’t effective in driving higher performance—but should you stop conducting them?

Don’t worry about motivation; hire self-motivated people instead

04/22/2019

There’s a philosophy out there that you can motivate almost anyone to do their job. It implies we can motivate someone, as well as take away their motivation. Although this viewpoint is typically well-intended, it is counterproductive to greater success.

Beware close timing between FMLA leave and discipline

04/15/2019

The closer a termination comes to the end of a worker’s FMLA leave, the more likely she may win an FMLA-retaliation lawsuit.

Shouting match doesn’t count as mediation