As the end of 2019 quickly approaches, many employers are planning employee holiday parties to celebrate the season and show their appreciation. According to an OfficeTeam survey of more than 2,800 senior managers, 93% said their companies would be having holiday festivities this year. As fun as employee holiday parties can be, they can also strike fear in the heart of HR professionals, who must limit employer liability and staff…
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Growth is great, but along with it comes challenges. Many organizations find themselves having to decide when to outsource human resources functions to a consultant, or how to create a dedicated department for organizational support. As a small business owner you most likely had to handle all HR functions to manage costs, and then later realized that you were spending a lot of your time navigating uncharted waters when the…
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When it comes to reasons why a company didn’t hire a human resources consultant, I’ve heard them all: a small business didn’t think they were big enough to warrant it, or the CFO didn’t want to spend the money, or Jane from accounting was taking care of the paperwork. That “worked” until they were suddenly facing a crisis and needed help. Rather than having a dedicated team or person in…
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Workplace training isn’t a nice-to-have; if you want skilled, engaged employees who stick around, it’s a necessity. Also, your company can be on the hook if you don’t educate your staff on issues such as sexual harassment and diversity. American companies spend enormous amounts of money on employee training and education every year—an estimated $160 billion. But too often, these efforts are wasted for a number of different reasons. Here…
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Whatever the size of your organization, over time people are going to come and go. And, it doesn’t matter if an employee has been at your organization for 10 months or 10 years; conducting an exit interview is an invaluable way to get honest feedback before he or she leaves. Here are a few stats from Gallup: Ninety-one percent of Fortune 500 companies conduct exit interviews Seventy-one percent of employees…
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Have you ever heard someone say that “She was born to be” something, or that “He was wired” for a certain career? Why is it that these people thrive, while others in similar positions struggle and fail? It’s because when you have an employee in a role that aligns with their passions, skills and strengths, they excel. When the employee is not a good fit, their coworkers and the business…
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Whether you have two employees or 200, it happens to almost every leader at some point: a person asks for a raise and you have to say “No.” For many small business owners, turning someone down is not a matter of poor performance or miserly management; they simply can’t afford to raise wages. While money is obviously ideal for your workers, there are some other ways you can show your…
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What do you think of when I say, “millennials in the workplace?” Are you reminded of a hardworking child or grandchild, or do you think about entitlement and avocado toast? Although their age range varies depending on who you ask, generally the consensus is that they’re the people who were born between 1981 and 1996. Gallup estimates that there are approximately 73 million millennials in America. They’re already the largest…
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As a professional HR consultant, I find that bringing up succession planning is a bit like talking about wills—people get uncomfortable, change the subject and put it off rather than facing the facts. However, if you want to have a sustainable business that succeeds after a key player or players are gone, you NEED to have a strong bench in the wings so that you can protect what you’ve built.…
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Almost every leader or manager I’ve worked with has a story about an employee (or more than one) who is hard to work with for some reason (or reasons). These challenging people can totally drain the emotional energy of your entire workforce if you don’t address the issue. Of course, as a manager you want to avoid hiring them in the first place, but if they’re on your team, you’re…
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