Aiming Upwards: Canada in Q3 2011 PayScale Index

By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com

Canada has certainly seen celebrity excitement this year. Royal newlyweds Princess Catherine and Prince William toured through in April and now teen idol and Canadian native Justin Bieber has brought his starlet girlfriend Selena Gomez to Winnipeg for some serious romancing. What more excitement can Canada take? How about a continuing upward trend in national wages? We, here at PayScale, think that is biggest news for Canada this year, but we’re biased. Does The PayScale Index beat out Bieber? Absolutely.

HR Salaries Ahead of the Averages

By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com

PayScale released its Q3 2011 results for The PayScale Index and added some helpful new features, like easy-to-read charts, category rankings pages and job family trends. Which addition do we here at Compensation Today love the most? The one that is all about our readers, the new human resources job category page. We can now tell you how compensation for hard-working HR pros has changed since 2006 and get a sense for where it is going next. Hint: It’s trending up.

Obama Wants You to Help Vets Find Jobs

By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com

Logistics manager, physician assistant, network administrator, cook, project manager, software developer, pilot, medical equipment repairer, accountant, interpreter, inventory specialist, facilities manager, maintenance person, medical technician, lab researcher, truck driver – these are just a handful of the many careers that military veterans are primed to excel in thanks to their training as service members. And, as an employer or HR manager, you not only get their skills, you may soon be financially incentivized to hire veterans.

FLSA Series Part 1: Exempt or Non-Exempt Classifications

This is the first of a series of articles explaining the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, or the Wage and Hour Law. It is the FLSA that defines at the federal level the distinction between exempt and non-exempt employees. Non-exempt employees are covered by the FLSA rules while exempt employees are not. Exempt employees are exempt from being paid for over time worked and are instead expected to perform their required work, regardless of the time needed to do it.

Tread Lightly When Ending At-Will Employment

Have you ever been tempted to terminate an at-will employee without providing him with a reason? Maybe you did not properly document the employee’s performance problems or are so fed up with his attitude that you feel like you have to take action immediately. After all, the “at-will” concept, simply put, allows you to terminate employees at any time, for any legal reason, or for no reason at all.

Energy and Tech Wages Up in Q3 2011

By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com

A glimmer of hope. That is what the Q3 2011 results for The PayScale Index have brought to some industries, towns and workers. With national average wage trends managing to either grow, or at least not drop, for over a year, it’s clear that the economy is very slowly defrosting. Is pay up in your industry or town? Which job skills are best paid? The most recent results for The PayScale Index provide helpful information to HR leaders and business owners.

How to Address Complaints of Bullying in the Workplace

By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com

Anderson Cooper of CNN created a special series on it. School kids suffer from it. And, HR leaders are on guard for it more than ever. Bullying has taken center stage as a major problem in the US. How do you, as a business leader, handle accusations of bullying at your organization?