HRIS / Technology

When in doubt, add a stamp

12/08/2008

When Medical Mutual Insurance of Ohio learned that 11 computer disks mailed to state retirement groups in Columbus had not arrived, the insurer contacted the U.S. Postal Service. There was reason for concern: The disks contained personal information on 36,000 Ohio retirees …

College employee data posted on the web

12/08/2008

Sinclair Community College in Dayton recently discovered that it had posted the names and Social Security numbers of almost 1,000 employees on a public web site for a year.

Cautionary tale: Video cameras provide powerful evidence

12/04/2008

Here’s a cautionary tale you can tell employees when explaining they should never touch a fellow employee. With video surveillance cameras everywhere, such incidents may be caught on tape, and the employee doing the touching may have an innocent explanation that just won’t be heard over what seems to be happening on camera.

Durham cops under investigation for slurring Obama

12/04/2008

Two Durham police officers are being investigated for allegedly posting racially charged comments about President-elect Barack Obama on their MySpace web pages in the days following the election.

HR technology: Shortcuts to find the best vendors, products

12/02/2008

Say your CEO tasks you with cutting HR department costs. You know technology can help slay that cost dragon, but you have no idea where to start. Instead of combing through hundreds of vendor web sites, use these nonbiased resources to search for the right HR tech products.

Is BlackBerry use compensable time?

11/10/2008

Q. We provide PDAs to virtually all our employees, some of whom are nonexempt. This enables them to send and respond to e-mails at all hours of the day and night. Does an employee’s time spent on his or her PDA outside of work count as hours worked?

‘Virtual’ job fairs save money, click with candidates

11/10/2008

When tax firm KPMG wanted to fill hundreds of positions worldwide, it held an enormous job fair that attracted 20,000 candidates. But nobody showed up in person. The two-day, round-the-clock fair was entirely online. More organizations are tapping the global reach of the Internet to recruit employees …

What can we do if former employee might have taken info to competitor?

11/07/2008

Q. Recently, an employee left our company to join a competitor. When we took a look at his computer, we found deleted e-mails and files indicating he downloaded some valuable information about our customers. We suspect he transferred it to our competitor. He was an at-will employee and we had no employment agreement with him. Is there anything we can do about this?

When a new employee brings competitor information, are we at risk?

11/06/2008

Q. We just hired a salesperson from a competitor. We warned her not to take proprietary information from her former employer, but she says what is on her personal laptop is her information. Is there any risk for us from that laptop?

4 tips for doing your job like a master geek

11/04/2008

What are the best online tools to help you get things done smarter and faster? Gina Trapani, lead blogger for Lifehacker.com and author of Upgrade Your Life, is an expert at helping people master modern technology. Here’s how everyday Joes and Janes can be like master geeks, she says.