I know, I know. It's Labor Day weekend in the United States, and I'm lazing on a Lake Michigan beach, watching the waves and basking in the sunshine. What keeps ... Read More

I love David Granirer's writing, humor and ideas. That's why I've featured several pieces by him at my website in the past. Looking for a good, light read - that ... Read More

Looking for ways to celebrate September? I'd like to share with you several of my favorite sites for locating days to celebrate monthly. I have a sister who lives in ... Read More

I met recently with members of a local SHRM chapter from the Detroit area. We are discussing a fall workshop I will do on the subject of retention. Retention of your ... Read More

Are you in charge of the monthly or periodic company or department meeting? They can be deadly dull if you're not careful. You know the drill. A bunch of talking ... Read More

Celebrating holidays and marking special events with ceremonies appeals to the team building, community-loving side of my personality. Earlier this week, I introduced you to About resources for the Labor ... Read More

It's a constant challenge to know what people want from work. Some people work for love; others work for personal fulfillment. Others like to accomplish goals and feel as if ... Read More

Alison Doyle, our Job Searching Guide, took career tests that told her she was "cautious, conservative and quiet; literal, realistic and practical, careful and precise; logical, honest and matter of ... Read More

I work with a colleague who never seems to get anything done. As you know well, in the work world, you are constantly interrupted, and it is difficult to get ... Read More

The great power outage of 2003, for those of you who live in the affected areas, brought to my mind the need for disaster planning for both home and work. ... Read More

Carly Fiorina has created a unique culture in the new Hewlett-Packard / Compaq blending of cultures. Rather than blend cultures ( as expected), she has identified the resources strong in ... Read More

Values matter. I am struck more and more, now that I am spending time inside of an organization, that the values espoused by the organization really do matter. Values are ... Read More

Readers ask great questions. Today's question concerns how long to keep employee records. Here is what I found: How Long Must Employers Retain Employee Records? How Long Should You Retain Records? Document Retention Policies HIPAAdvisory ... Read More

In a client company, we're moving toward a system of ranking employees. Not in the sense that GE has used and that I had to implement at General Motors in ... Read More

We're developing an evacuation plan and other safety procedures for a client company. I found the following FAQ both interesting and informative. Know how often you need to do certain ... Read More

Your small business has unique people opportunities and challenges. Some are unique to small business. Others, you share with organizations of any size. The good news? Best practices exist. Proven ... Read More

How about a source for quotes for the weekend? I'm putting together a multi-page resource for those of you who seek short pieces, quotations and funny stories for your newsletters, ... Read More

Looking for ways to potentially cut costs and unburden your shrinking Human Resources staff members? Do you have staff working until six and seven at night? Are you going home ... Read More

Want to develop effective working relationships with people at work? Start with similarities, not differences among people, when you build relationships. As a human resources professional, manager, supervisor, co-worker, staff ... Read More

Because of an upturn in business, we sought and found nine production employees for a client business. We also need a Network Administrator and a Logistics Manager. With the help of ... Read More

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), in the United States, provides up to twelve weeks off work for eligible employees to take care of personal illness or family medical ... Read More

Looking for some summer beach reading? Have time to sit on the porch, put your feet up, and enjoy the sunshine and the balmy breezes? If so, it's time for ... Read More

I've needed gifts for employees several times recently. An engineer was involved in a terrible traffic accident so we sent him a "get-well" basket. Babies are born regularly to many ... Read More

How to build employee motivation and positive morale remains a perennially favorite topic on the site. I have lots of ideas to share; take a look at these motivation resources ... Read More

Preventing vacation downtime is a challenge during the heavy summer vacation time. No matter where you are in the world, however, you can profit from the ideas in these two ... Read More

"The unemployment rate fell to 6.2% in July from 6.4% in June. Payrolls dropped by 44,000 jobs, as cuts among manufacturers and retailers helped offset a jump in business and ... Read More

A client told me recently that they were having trouble finding a good technical writer and had just let a person go because he demonstrated limited writing ability, once hired. ... Read More

Staff functions in an organization have the potential to positively impact every aspect of the organization - if allowed. The first step toward having the impact you desire is to ... Read More

During the past two weeks, my time has centered around hiring a Director level individual for my client organization. What a rush such a process brings! Flying the candidate in, ... Read More

Turnover is down at many of my client organizations. I've been celebrating. Now I've received the following news about turnover from the Society for Human Resource Management. Compare your company ... Read More

"At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." --Lao-tzu Sometimes news is negative. "Positive News: all good ... Read More