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Employee Relations

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.

The best way to help employees set goals

04/25/2019
How you set goals for your employees is important, not just for clarity as to what needs to be done, but also for the motivational value it can add for the employee if you do it right.

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

04/15/2019
If, during an investigation, you must bring an employee and her alleged harasser together to find out what happened, don’t let the meeting turn into a shouting match.

Consistency is key when deciding how to discipline for excessive medical absences

04/15/2019
Employers don’t have to keep disabled employees on the payroll after they have exhausted all available leave and received a reasonable accommodation of taking more time off. That doesn’t mean you can arbitrarily pick and choose which employees you discharge.

Warning letter doesn’t count as retaliation

04/15/2019
Retaliation must include an adverse employment action such as termination, demotion or some other substantial and negative action like transfer to an undesirable shift. A mere letter of warning doesn’t rise to the required level of adversity.