Category: The more you know about Business

I’ve had occasion to watch managers in action over my career. I think we can all agree that managers display many different styles, from completely hands-off to overly involved, and somewhere in between. What is most interesting for me as an HR practitioner is to monitor the impact the varying styles have on employees. When I say “management style,” I’m referring to the way a manager makes decisions relating to their subordinates. The wrong management style demotivates employees, kills productivity, and causes employees to disengage and leave. One successful management style is known as the “democratic” manager. These managers are […]

There is a big difference between good HR and proactive HR – the difference between HR being important versus worth its weight in gold. We tend to think of HR as practical and reactive to standard issues. Recruitment, retention, employee relations issues (discipline, grievances), pay and benefits, all spring to mind. Certainly, getting these fundamentals right is always critical. But proactive HR requires a deeper level of understanding and a more collaborative approach to these issues. The positive impact it can have on your business is significant. HR policies and procedures often times seem fairly black-and-white, while business certainly is […]

Preparing for workplace safety has been top of mind for many employers. While in the past the focus had been on Occupational Health & Safety (OSHA) i.e., providing a work environment free from safety and health hazards that could cause physical harm, nowadays there is increased emphasis on workplace violence. How do we define workplace violence? This definition will be organization-specific, but for the sake of this article, I will define it as deliberately causing physical injury to another person, such as shooting, hitting, and other forms of physical abuse, as well as threats of violence (including emails, texts, social […]

Now that some states have legalized marijuana use, it is a good idea to take a look at where things stand legally when it comes to it’s use in the workplace. Company leaders have had discretion when deciding whether to subject employees to drug testing, either pre-hire or during employment. Recently, a federal court affirmed this when it found that a New Jersey company did not have to waive a post-accident test for a worker who was a registered medical marijuana user. This decision means in the state of New Jersey, businesses can still dictate the terms of employment to […]

Human Resource management must carefully monitor the labor relations and regulations in all of the geographic regions where they hire. A trade union or labor union is an organization dedicated to promoting employee rights and improving employee welfare in a given organization or industry; it’s the fulcrum of labor relations. It is imperative to closely monitor changes in labor relations, both to understand the most recent hiring practices and to ensure compliance with union rules and regulations. The prevalence of unions, both from a geographic and industry standpoint, often significantly impacts the welfare and wage positions of a substantial number […]

What makes a workplace an ethical workplace? “Ethics” invokes thoughts of someone knowing and acting on what is right or fair. This is true even when thinking about an organization. The concept of ethics sits on a basis of common understandings of four areas: Transparency, Honesty, Confidentiality, and Protection of Rights. Transparency deals with the level of trust in the stakeholder / organization relationship. Being transparent means a company is committed to releasing detailed information about their processes and transactions to stakeholders: those individuals who have an interest in the company’s performance. A natural progression of transparent actions and communications […]

Managers are increasingly aware of the importance of promoting a healthy work-life balance for employees, which in turn, increases job satisfaction. However, with so many advances in technology over the past several decades, achieving this balance has been much more difficult. The advantages in the way people access information, communicate with one another, and complete tasks have allowed for flexibility in the workplace, but they have also diminished the distinction between work and family. I recall while working in the Netherlands, my immediate manager was based in Bangkok, Thailand, and the company headquarters was based in Glenview, Illinois. Back then, […]