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Training

More reason to crack down on disability-related jokes and teasing

03/01/2005
When training supervisors, stress that they must work harder to prevent workplace intolerance toward employees with physical or mental impairments.
Reason: More courts are allowing employees to use
the …

Improve job reviews: Avoid these 4 deadly sins

03/01/2005
Managers may dread performance re-views, but employees are more receptive to them than you think. In fact, 77 percent of employees polled by staffing firm OfficeTeam said they consider performance reviews …

Alert managers: No ‘magic words’ needed to request FMLA

03/01/2005
Issue: Some supervisors think about FMLA only if an employee explicitly says “I need FMLA leave.”
Risk: In reality, employees don’t need to use the term “FMLA.” Failing to recognize …

Get the answers you need from ‘buck-passers’

03/01/2005
Issue: You often need people to act or decide quickly, even if they don’t report to you.
Risk: When people avoid making decisions, it can slow you down and reflect …

Comply with the new ethics-training rules in 7 easy steps

03/01/2005
Issue: New federal guidelines require all organizations to establish an ethics-training program.
Benefit: By taking the lead on this issue, you’ll cut the organization’s liability risk and impress the brass. …

Don’t get snagged in OSHA’s beefed-up inspection machine

03/01/2005
Issue: OSHA “dramatically” increased the number of its most serious kind of violations that it handed out in 2004.
Risk: Negative inspection results can trigger big fines and sales-killing publicity. …

The new legal risk of overworking bilingual employees

03/01/2005
Issue: Overburdening employees because of their language abilities.
Risk: Relying too heavily on bilingual employees could spark a national-origin bias lawsuit.
Action: Remind supervisors to be on guard against …

Protect your company’s secrets … and take the credit

02/01/2005

Issue: U.S. employers lose nearly $60 billion each year due to trade-secret theft, but many still often overlook this risk.
Risk: Your organization can be ruined if competitors gain access …

Work with managers to motivate part-time employees

02/01/2005
Issue: Improving the productivity of your part-time employees.
Risk: Part-timers often feel, and are sometimes treated, like second-class citizens, which can hurt their performance.
Action: Work with supervisors to …

Stop regular e-mail purges if a legal complaint flares up

02/01/2005
Issue: Your policy of periodically deleting business e-mail.
Risk: Courts could penalize your organization if it deletes e-mail messages that relate to a potential lawsuit.
Action: Alert IT to …