Great events and not so great events in the workplace and for Human Resources, managers, and employees happened from 2000-2009, the first decade of the century. When you look back at this decade, what will you remember as the best and worst happenings and events, your favorite and least favorite happenings and events of the decade for you and your workplace? Help me identify the best and worst of the decade for workplaces, Human Resources, employees, and managers.

Here are a few questions to ponder: Did Federal or state employment laws pass that hindered you or helped you? Did your company change direction? Did you change direction? Did your company adopt a new approach to employee relations? How about a new recognition system? Did a book change the way you view the world? Did a state, national, or international event change your work world?

Thanks for your responses; I hope to turn these into an end of decade piece that all of us will find useful.

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We're working on developing a formal mentoring program at a client company that will ensure that every new employee, or employee new to a department, has a formally assigned mentor. And, with this title comes the responsibility to help the employee get up to speed on job skills and also to integrate into the culture quickly. (See: Eight Hallmarks of a Mentoring Culture.)

This mentoring relationship is aside from the informal mentoring relationships that I would encourage you to develop throughout your career. Mentoring is one of the most important components of employee development and, too often, the new person gets assigned to a buddy who has no clue about what he or she is supposed to do other than take the new employee to lunch.

Let's change that and make mentoring into a contributing developmental factor for employees. Use mentoring to recruit and retain and train your very best employees.

_{Image Copyright Diego Cervo}

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Gossip is rampant and contagious in some workplaces. I would characterize those gossip-ridden workplaces as settings in which employees do not receive sufficient information about what is happening in the company. (This is one of the employees' five most important needs from work.)

Gossip is also a characteristic of companies that fail to make their decision making transparent to employees. When decision rationale is not clear, then employees spend time guessing - usually with the most negative, nefarious rationales in mind - about why something changed.

When economic times are tough, and people are waiting for bad news, you must take on the hard topics to encourage your employees to trust you. If employees trust you, they are more likely to come to you with questions and comments. This is what you want to encourage at work.

I have also recommended that you need to nip gossip in the bud, just like employee negativity. Left to fester, both grow and are contagious; they infect even the most positive-spirited employees and weigh down the workplace. I do believe that negatively and persistently affecting employee morale is an offense that deserves disciplinary action (and lots of you agree), if coaching isn't working to change behavior. Here's how to manage gossip.

I was given a piece from the New York Times this week, that really got my attention. Shayla McKnight, an employee at Printingforless.com, talked to reporter Patricia R. Olsen about her company's approach to gossip. The company has a no gossip and no back stabbing policy that is strictly enforced. Every new employee signs an 'agreement to values' form and breaching your agreement can get you fired.

The company appears to be doing correctly much of what I recommend, too, thus creating a productive environment for employees. Shayla is a green; read the story to find out what that means and for more excellent ideas for your workplace.

_{Image Copyright Tanya Constantine - Getty Images}

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According to Wendy Nice Barnes, vice president of Human Resources at eHealth, the COBRA Subsidy is running out for employees who started to receive it in March, 2009.

Wendy, who earlier wrote about the COBRA subsidy and alternative health care options for employees, says: "There are two pieces of legislation making their way through the Congress - one in the House and one in the Senate - that would extend the COBRA subsidy. The Senate bill is: S. 2730 and the House bill is HR. 3930."

It seems likely that the Congress will extend the subsidy. For those of you who follow these:

• COBRA Subsidy Extension in the Senate. Senate Bill: S. 2730, The COBRA Subsidy Extension and Enhancement Act of 2009, was introduced on November 4, 2009. Its Sponsors were: Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey (D-PA). Latest Action was November 4th: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  
  Major Provisions are: The current subsidies are extended for an additional 6 months and a new 75% COBRA subsidy for newly unemployed begins in 1/01/2010 through 06/2010. The COBRA subsidy is extended from 9 months to 15 months and a reduction in hours from full-time to part-time becomes a COBRA-qualifying event.

• COBRA Subsidy Extension in the House. HR. 3930, the Extended COBRA Continuation Protection Act of 2009, was introduced on October 28, 2009 by Sponsor: Representative Joe Sestak (D-PA). In the latest action taken in Congress on October 26th, the Act was referred to House Education and Labor committee.
  
  Major Provisions are: COBRA is extended from 18 months to 24 months. Current subsidies receive a 6 month extension and a 65% COBRA subsidy is extended through 1/06/2010.

_{Image Copyright Wendy Nice Barnes}