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Productivity / Performance

Stick with objective assessments to ensure your processes aren’t swayed by bias

01/27/2009

Assessing employee performance or potential using subjective measures is one of the fastest ways to wind up in court. Employers that stick with objective, carefully tailored assessments are much less likely to lose bias lawsuits because there’s little chance for hidden bias to creep into the process.

Understand the North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Protection Act

01/27/2009

North Carolina law has long protected disabled North Carolinians from discrimination. The North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Protection Act was originally called the Handicapped Persons Protection Act and became law in 1985. The act is broad in scope, and many of its protections apply directly to employment matters.

Boss makes employee sick? That’s no disability

01/27/2009

If every employee who got depressed or anxious after receiving a poor performance review or trying to satisfy a demanding boss could sue, the courts would have little time for anything else. That may be one reason that courts have been rejecting ADA cases based on stress and anxiety brought on by work conditions.

Don’t just be a boss–be a mentor: 4 easy steps

01/13/2009
The best managers aren’t just the ones who can extract the most productivity from their people, but the ones who produce great future managers.  How can you be sure that your best people will someday be top-notch leaders themselves?

Review all options for disabled worker seeking accommodation

01/13/2009

Employees with disabilities may be entitled to transfer to open positions that they are qualified to hold. Remember, that means jobs they could do with or without an accommodation.

6 ways to boost the ROI of your adoption benefits

01/06/2009

Like a mother who has just given birth, the parent who adopts a child needs time to bond and adjust to a household that’s been turned upside down by the arrival of a new family member. According to Hewitt Associates, that’s the consensus of the approximately 45% of U.S. companies that offer money or paid time off to adoptive parents. Here are six ways to make the most of an adoption benefit for your employees …

Free laptops result in fewer snow days

01/05/2009

Standard & Poor’s has come up with a solution to snow days for employees of its Centennial, Colo., office: laptops. The credit ratings firm gives a laptop computer to any Centennial employee who wants to work from home during foul weather.

ADA: Performance and Conduct Standards

01/02/2009

In response to numerous performance-related questions from employers, the EEOC released a detailed guide to help employers apply performance and conduct standards to employees with disabilities. Here’s a summary of the EEOC’s recommendations.

Can we cut the pay of a lousy employee?

12/24/2008

Q. We conduct yearly performance evaluations, during which we review whether employees have met expectations. If an employee fails to meet those expectations, can we legally decrease the employee’s salary?

How can we protect ourselves? We’re worried aging employee will hurt himself

12/24/2008

Q. One of our employees is over age 70 and has recently had memory problems and a car wreck. What (if anything) can we do to protect ourselves from potential workers’ comp claims should he injure himself?