Trish McFarlane, author of the HR Ringleader blog, is the VP of HR Practice/ Principal Analyst for the Brandon Hall Group. A former HR executive with over 15 years of experience in Big 4 public accounting, PR, healthcare, and IT, Trish’s expertise in leadership, performance management, training & development, change management, social media, and innovation, enables her […]
Care and Compassion are Vital HR Skills
When we look at the standard HR job description, we usually see things like knowledge of federal and state labor laws and experience with workplace investigations, benefits, training, safety, recruiting and strategic planning. It is not common to see something about the ability to care for employees on the list of requirements even though it […]
Why Smart Hiring Is Especially Tricky For Small Businesses
“While large companies may benefit from a big pool of available talent, small businesses don’t have those same advantages when trying to find new employees.” By Chad Brooks
When Team Skills Don’t Equal Team Performance
The gap between skills and performance is a frequent frustration and worse, a conundrum, for leaders. The team appears to have all of the skills required to excel but doesn’t measure up on key performance metrics. The most frequent performance inhibitor is lack of team synergy. Getting along well together isn’t enough. High performance teamwork […]
Ways to Salvage a “Below Standard” Employee
Managers can use five simple performance management steps to address and improve the performance of a below standard employee.
How to Include Bullying Prevention in Harassment Training
While there are laws that protect against harassment in the workplace, we have yet to see much that addresses workplace bullying. A new California law requires that employers add training on prevention of abusive conduct to their existing harassment training, which is currently mandated for supervisors at companies with 50 or more employees. Even if […]
Another take on the dreaded, outdated performance review!
Ah, the performance review. Please allow me to add my two cents to this topic. It’s been well documented that performance reviews are rife with deficiencies. Too often, they are used to place blame. Objective criteria becomes subjective. Rating scales save time, but don’t gauge performance OR identify areas for improvement. The process itself is […]
Intermittent FMLA exceeds docs estimate: What not to do
” An employee’s absences far exceeded the amount of medical leave his doctor estimated he’d need on his FMLA certification forms. What happened next landed his employer in some pretty hot water.” By Jared Bilski Here the scenario: An employee’s absences far exceeded the amount of medical leave his doctor estimated he’d need on his FMLA […]
Would Unlimited Vacation Fly at Your Company?
“While unlimited vacation policies have been lauded in larger companies … , the question is whether they’re plausible for smaller businesses that can’t afford to always have someone fill in for unavailable staff members. By Chad Brooks Employers have found a new way to entice top talent to their company. They’re giving employees something they’ve only […]
Two words that can change your career – literally!
The power of words is evident and especially today with social media, words can be used to promote your business or political platform, raise awareness about social issues and, unfortunately, words can also be used with the intent to hurt. Thought-leaders who discuss leadership and management skills often focus on the importance of good communication […]