National Employee Health and Fitness Day is May 21. This Web site from the National Association for Health and Fitness has lots of ideas for employers.

Yesterday, in a meeting, we talked about employee health and wellness. As just one idea, several of us discussed what we could do to discourage our employees from smoking. We came up with everything from scheduling smoking cessation classes on site at 4 p.m. to providing vouchers for employees to attend sessions elsewhere. We're also checking to see if stop-smoking aids are deductible health expenses from employee Flex Spending Accounts.

Two sites at About.com also focus resources on smoking cessation. The Lung Diseases site has a gallery of resources for smoking cessation as does Terry Martin's Quit Smoking / Smoking Cessation site. We decided that we didn't want to play Big Brother and ban smoking in the office park and outside of our buildings, but we recognize the need for a solid Smoke-free Workplace Policy.

You might also want to take the Adult Fitness test offered by The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. In conjunction with National Employee Health and Fitness Day, one client company launched a pedometer challenge. Teams of employees walked and every employee who completed 100,000 steps during the month received a voucher for a new pair of walking shoes and a chance to win a prize in a drawing. The challenge was fun, it emphasized team building, and reinforced a fit lifestyle for employees. So, plan something special for your employees starting May 21.

Just a quick note to let you know that the newest Carnival of Human Resources is up over at Peggy Andrews' Career Encouragement Blog. Why not wander over and take a look. The Human Resources bloggers are asking and answering lots of questions this week.

Do you have thoughts to share? Your experiences add such value. I asked this question on LinkedIn.com and people are responding with their transition stories.

Liking people is not the only qualification for pursuing a career in Human Resources. It helps, but it is insufficient for success. In Human Resources, like any other career, some minimum requirements exist to enter the field. But, you have the opportunity to continue to develop these skills and experiences as you work in Human Resources and are promoted into higher level, more responsible roles. But, everyone has to start somewhere, so here's what you need to know to prepare for a career in Human Resources.

• How to Break Into a Career in Human Resources.
• What Does a Human Resources Manager, Generalist, or Director Do?
• Human Resources Job Prospects and Earnings.

In a client company, we've been talking about maintaining the best aspects of the company culture as the company continues to grow. It's a good conversation to have. The business channel editor here at About.com commented to me once upon a time that in her experience many small businesses struggle with the concept of culture. She's been a business and finance writer for a number of years and has spoken with many different small businesses.

Her experience echoes my own. Most small businesses do not consciously decide about what aspects of culture should be developed and maintained in their companies. So, the culture just develops on its own. It's a given that a particular work environment or culture will develop. The coming together of people in a workplace guarantees the development. The question is whether the culture that develops serves the best interests of your customers, employees, and future progress and success.

So, for me, consciously determining the culture that will serve your best interests is a priority. So is assessing the culture periodically to see how you're doing. Keeping an open ear and listening to what employees are saying or complaining about gives you a lot of information. So will a periodic employee satisfaction survey. Checking in with new employees to learn about their experience of joining your company is useful, too.

Then, you can make plans to change the culture if it's not emphasizing what's important for your business.

How else do you keep your fingers on the pulse of the environment you provide for people at work? Please respond in comments.

One of the many joys of writing this Web site over the past eight years and blogging here since 2003, believe it or not, has been the joy of my frequent interaction with readers and site visitors. Not all questions come from Human Resources staff either; questions and comments come frequently from line managers and employees, too. In the past week or so alone, I have received emails from:

• a Human Resources staff person in Iran asking about employee motivation,
• several questions from our Canadian neighbors,
• three questions from various places in Africa including Nambia and Cape Town,
• questions from India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, Holland, Belarus, Dubai, and, I think, Jordan, and
• numerous questions and comments from all over the United States.

What is striking over time is the similarity of the questions; we all work with people and, if you read my site, you probably are looking for ideas to improve your workplace or your relationships. I started answering the question from the HR person in Iran and found I would say something so similar to a North American HR person asking the same question, that my response moved me down this thinking path.

I write about diversity infrequently because there are just so many HR topics to write about, but you may want to take a look at: Diversity in the Workplace: Search for Similarities.

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In states around the United States, supposedly progressive legislatures are pushing mandatory employer paid sick days for employees. The city of San Francisco, CA passed legislation that began requiring employers to begin accruing paid sick days to full-time, part-time, and temporary employees in February, 2007. By my calculation, the city mandated that employers pay an additional 8.625 days to every employee each year.

Many believe that government mandated paid sick days are a good thing. I am not one of them. I believe that government entities should stop messing with the employment relationship employers have with their employees. I don't think legislators get that what they mandate in one area will usually need to be taken from another. And, legislators, many of whom have never had a real job, real responsibilities, commitments to employees, or profit and loss responsibility in a business - my local senator, as an example, whose only job as an adult has been to work for her political party - make blanket decisions that fail to consider industry, region, and individual company and workforce needs.

In the case of mandated paid sick days, here are several results I would predict.

• Paid time off (PTO) policies and opportunities will become much more difficult to offer as paid sick days will need differentiation. Why is this bad? Because PTO represents real progressive interaction between employer and employees. The purpose of a Paid Time Off (PTO) policy is to provide employees with flexible paid time off from work and to reduce unscheduled absences and the need for supervisory oversight. PTO treats employees like adults.

• Employers who are struggling and smaller employers may be forced out of business by the expense.

• Other employers may struggle to manage the costs of paying overtime expenses to provide coverage for employees off of work on paid sick days. This is one hidden cost to think about.

• Employees may, additionally, have to prove that they or family members were actually sick. This will result in higher health insurance costs, more doctor visits, and placing supervisors and Human Resources staff in the role of police.

• Marginal employees tend to skate on the edge of such policies as paid sick days, so investment of supervisory and Human Resources' time in disciplinary action may increase.

• Finally, provision of legislated paid sick days might require employers to cut back in other areas such as the amount of paid vacation time and personal time provided. Or, the combination of the expense, and the potentially more frequent marginally necessary doctor visits, could cause employers to pass to employees a higher percentage of health care costs or reduce benefits.

These are just some thoughts as the provision of paid sick days looks as if it is becoming the next minimum wage battle in legislatures nationally. I'd love to hear your thoughts, too, in comments.

As spring is fully sprung all around me, I am reminded that this is graduation time from many high schools and colleges. So I made providing some basic information about careers in Human Resources a priority this year. This decision was also affected by the number of people who have contacted me in the past six months asking about how to "get into HR" from other careers and other college majors. It appears that a lot of people have discovered an interest in Human Resources - or discovered this site to ask.

You will want to take a look at How to Break Into a Human Resources Career by guest writer, Heather Johnson. Additionally, I wrote about Human Resources Job Prospects and Earnings. I'll be supplementing this careers in Human Resources information over the next week or two, so please check back.

In the meantime, here's a new piece about my recommended job search books for grads. I separated them out from my recommended mid-career job search book recommendations. After all, what new grad is interested in Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+? Hmmm, maybe as their second job search book?

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So many of you are busily hiring interns at this time of the year that I'll share a couple of biases with you. Interns can be a boon to your business and give you the extra pair of hands, current educational thinking, and enthusiasm and support your business needs. In turn, you owe interns certain monetary and experiential factors. If you're a college student or a recent grad reading this post, these are the factors you need to seek in an internship.

• Payment for services: in my part of the country, interns make $10-12 an hour; the best paid make around $20. I do not believe it is fair that interns should work for no pay regardless of the experience you are giving them. This is a small price to attract the best and brightest or the young people who may not have deep pockets supporting them in college. Paying interns gives you the opportunity to attract young people whom you may eventually hire, regardless of their financial situation. It makes no sense to me to have a bright, competent person waiting tables when they could be learning and contributing in your business.

• A well-rounded intern experience: no, interns are not working in your business to make copies, file paper, and sit at your reception desk. They deserve a true introduction to business that gives them experience in a number of areas related to their interests and potential degree. If I were in charge of the world, I'd require a written plan for the intern's experience before I'd recommend a department hire an intern. This gives the interns you really want, and may potentially hire, a good picture of what their experience will be in your organization. It also provides a guide path for how your department will utilize the intern.

• A specific boss or mentor who is committed to the intern's learning: an internship is a wonderful opportunity to develop that first, and possibly career-long relationship, with an individual who cares about and is committed to their success. Regular meetings, goals, and guidance are critical in this relationship.

• Include the intern in regular company or organization events so the intern experiences the totality of working for your organization. Holiday parties, community and professional meetings, TGIF meet-ups at your local tavern, and departmental lunches make the internship experience real. Plus, they add to your potential to attract the best interns to your company after graduation. Better to hire the person that you really know.

• Hire your best interns. Nothing is more important to an intern who has come to love and value your company and who is valued and appreciated by you, than to join your company, as a regular employee, upon graduation.

I did an interview about grads with the Washington Post for their graduation guide last week. Check it out. And, for terrific advice about interns, take a look at About.com's Penny Loretto's Internship site. About.com's Alison Doyle also offers How to Find an Internship. Both sites will help you do a good job with your interns to provide them with the best possible experience. You get what you give with interns. And, the best possible get is a potentially wonderful employee.

My blog earlier this week introducing a new resignation letter prompted this exchange with a reader. Your thoughts are welcome, too. Please join the discussion.

Reader Question:

"I'm curious as to your feedback about not including a paragraph such as the one you suggested:

'I will miss working with you very much as you have provided me with many opportunities to both learn and contribute. Your coaching and support have been invaluable to my progress. I will also miss many of my coworkers and customers and take many positive memories with me to my new employment.

'Again, best wishes for a positive future. Please call on me if there is anything I can do to help ease the transfer of my work to other employees or to help train your new employee.

'Again, I am excited about my new opportunity, but sad to leave.'

"What if the reason a person is leaving (people leave people, not places of employment) is due to the fact that the boss was absolutely horrible to work for and the company, in general, had no leadership or direction? When does one tell the truth so that after leaving the company, some one is put on alert that there are inherent problems that are causing people to leave.

"Isn't a paragraph of this nature perpetuating the lie and enabling the boss and organization to continue the same behaviors?"

Answer: "I was actually being sincere in my example and assuming the boss had been decent. I have worked with and known many decent bosses over the years.

"At the same time, to answer your question, yes, people leave bosses more often than they leave jobs, but this individual was leaving for a much better opportunity.

"I don't recommend that a manager or a company is critiqued in an exit letter. They develop a life of their own, they live forever, and you never know who is reading or interpreting them, even many years later. And, they all reflect on you.

"I like to see companies do exit interviews during which you may express your concerns. But, again, understand that companies are not without understanding. The HR person doing the interview rarely has power to change things and they have probably heard most of what you have to offer before.

"Your best bet to change your company is while you are a valued employee. You do this by approaching your hierarchy with solutions and suggestions after developing a positive relationship. This is really the only time you have for impact and making a statement as you exit the door is not effective. Unless you were the most important employee in the company because of skills or contribution, your exit words should bridge to a positive memory in the future.

"That said, if you had a rotten boss, don't say nice things in the resignation letter about him or her. I'm not an advocate of lying. Use the simple resignation letter I've also provided."

Reader Responded:

"In essence, I ascribe to your alternative tact of writing a simple, factual message of resignation and leaving it at that when circumstances don't warrant anything more positive. Certainly, a letter of that nature is not the place to 'exit-vent' or to advise about all that's wrong with the organization. So, I concur with your thought process there.

"What's amazing to me, and perhaps it's my own naivety or wishful thinking, is that there is so much writing, curriculum, business theorists, proven methodologies and information that is accessible to companies today to help them perform better; yet, so many of those companies either refuse to acknowledge their developmental need or they are 'unconsciously incompetent' when it comes to connecting with their employees, and therefore don't know that any needs exist.

"As an OD/Training professional, I've experienced a lot of disconnectedness among corporate leaders, middle managers and rank and file employees to the extent that turnover is largely based on the fact that people felt that they weren't appreciated. I've been in situations when I have tried to effect change by building relationships with senior management--I call it my personal value stream/proposition--and yet, I feel that I'm looked upon as some kind of 3-headed alien.

"When the brick walls get higher and stronger and company leaders simply don't buy in, it can be pretty demoralizing to a facilitator of learning who has the tools to bridge those kinds of gaps. I've always believed that Training pros struggle the most when empathizing with employees who really want to learn and grow and being frustrated when there is no care or support from the top. What a ping pong match that is!

"Well, this has been long-winded enough. Thanks--Really! for listening."

Your thoughts, please.

This is a heavy week for policies and job descriptions. I just produced a new paid time off (PTO) policy and just completed a paid vacation days piece today. I'm working on personal days, sick days, and a job description for a marketing manager.

New Carnival of Human Resources #32

Today, the new Carnival of Human Resources #32 is online at the Rainmaker Group's Blog: Maximizing Possibility. There are many fine articles in this week's Carnival and I wanted to draw your attention to one in particular.

You may or may not know that cooking, especially with herbs and spices, is one of my favorite activities. So, it was with some interest that I learned from John Hyman who writes the Ohio Employer's Law Blog that the Food Network had fired Robert Irvine who hosted the show, Dinner: Impossible. After the St. Petersburg Times publicized that the host, who claimed to have been a chef for the British Royal family and the White House, had actually committed resume fraud, the company made the right choice.

Jon makes a good case for why you need to fire any employee who deceives you on his or her resume, if you find out, to, among other things, give yourself a stronger position in the face of a discrimination law suit. He also talks about how to legally do careful background checks. Take a look at his site.