Employee Core Competencies - A Proven Tool for an Organization's Success

“Hi, you got a minute?” It’s your fourth interruption this morning. It’s Sally, the Operations Manager. You know when she says, “Do you have a minute?” it usually means, “Do you have a half hour?” She comes in and sits down in your guest chair and you figure that you can spare a half hour before your next meeting. You’ve been the HR manager for your company now for five years so you can tell that Sally really needs to talk to you and it’s about one of her employees. You can probably guess which one, but you let her tell you.

Communicating Compensation Plans to Employees

How well do your employees understand your compensation plan and philosophy? Clearly communicating compensation plans to employees is worth the effort. It can lead to harder-working, more loyal and satisfied employees. “But it’s complicated!” you say. You’re right. Let’s talk about what your organization might do to make compensation plans more transparent to your employees.

Firing Employees: A Lawyer’s Advice

The world of human resources has officially arrived to mainstream media. In his recent blockbuster movie, George Clooney tackles the death-defying world of human resources and employee terminations. His character racks up tens of thousands of frequent flyer miles travelling to distant lands to be a “hired gun” and terminate employees on behalf of their employers. As the movie suggests, terminating an employee is a very sensitive task. Poorly-handled employee terminations are more likely to breed lawsuits by the former employee, discontent among the remaining employees, and myriad unexpected legal issues. As an employment lawyer, I see the good, the bad, and the absurd when it comes to employee terminations. The stories you are about to read are true (sanitized to protect the innocent) and the lesson drawn from the story worth its weight in saved litigation costs.

When Less Must Become More: The Case for a Talent and Leadership Development Model Now

Today’s slimmed down workforce has been placed very clearly in the position of working to accomplish more with far fewer resources than before. This contradictory challenge seemed to be destined to fail from the start and it may well be, inadvertently, designed to fail for many organizations. Companies all across the United States have reduced their workforces to what has been termed “essential levels” and have cut costs to what is believed to be “essential expenditures.”

Tips for After You Hire Veterans and Ex-Military Employees

The two major times when people enter the military are usually right after high school or right after college. Regardless of their level of education, the majority of these soldiers are never exposed to many elements of corporate culture in the typical business setting, and most likely only worked at a steak house part-time, like yours truly.

Nonprofit Compensation Trends for 2009 and 2010

Sitting in the middle of a robust economy is one of the best ways for nonprofits to increase their fundraising power. Back in 1986, when the tax on charitable donations was increased, donations actually went up simply because people had money in their pockets, according to The Christian Science Monitor’s “Obama's Right: The Wealthy Don’t Need a Huge Tax Break to Support Charity.” By contrast, the sort of economic health we’ve seen over the last year or so can have a devastating effect on nonprofits’ income.

A Summary of the COBRA Premium Reduction Provisions Under ARRA

The period to sign up for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) subsidy that provides terminated employees and their beneficiaries with a 65 percent COBRA premium reduction in health continuation insurance costs has been extended through February 28, 2010. In addition, the subsidy period has been extended from 9 months to 15 months of the COBRA 18-month entitlement period.

Legal Industry Hopes to Recover in 2010: Have Salaries Changed?

By Staff Writer

The year of 2009 was a tough one for the legal industry, with 12,916 people laid off from major law firms, according to “What Will 2010 Bring for Big Law?” published in The Business Insider. Profits are expected to go up in 2010 as mergers and acquisitions pick up again, banks start to lending more and law firms work on the litigation resulting from the economic crisis.

Q & A with Compensation Experts: Pay Ranges, Pay-for-Performance and Merit Increases

What’s going on these days with compensation and what questions do HR managers have about it all?

The following is a collection of questions asked during PayScale webinars over the last several months. The topics covered include: having difficult conversations with employees about pay, finding ways to reward a top performer whose pay is already near the top of their range and how to support managers in having conversations about pay with employees. Answers are provided by PayScale director of customer service and education, Stacey Carroll, MBA, SPHR, and also Betty Richardson, CCP.