Thoughts on HR

In the human resources industry, we often quote the statistic that it costs an employer 60% of someone’s salary to replace them. That’s an average statistic, so it will be less for some employees and more for others. But it’s a measurable number and one that has been studied and analyzed many times by the HR industry.

Workplace communication can make or break a company. Countless employee conflicts, performance issues, and hostile work environments come back to communication or lack of communication. Here’s the bottom line: If you think you’re communicating with your employees...

Human resources is a pretty broad category that includes a lot of different functions. When I tell people that I own a human resources consulting company, I get a lot of different reactions. Some people think that means benefits and payroll, some people think it means...

As businesses both large and small seek to attract and retain top talent, many have adopted policies to support work-life balance, which may include extended paid time off (PTO) policies and flexible work hours. Some companies have gone as far as saying, "We don’t...

If you search online for interview questions to ask a candidate, you’ll find no shortage of lists of questions and justifications for why those are the best questions to ask. There are plenty of default questions people feel like they should ask, but not many people...

We’ve previously talked about the manager’s role as cheerleader and as lifeguard. Now it’s time to talk about the most challenging role for many managers—the bouncer. I don’t know any managers who enjoy the process of firing an employee. There are surely some who see...

The cheerleader is the most important role that a manager has. In that role, the manager rallies the team around the company’s mission and helps them achieve their goals. But sometimes people fall out of line, which is where the manager’s second role—the...

Every manager must take on a variety of roles to help them successfully lead a team to accomplish its goals. While each manager’s roles will look a bit different based on their industry and organizational structure, there are three primary roles that should apply to...

Dress codes are a bit of a loaded topic in the business world. Businesses want to appear hip and fun in order to attract great talent, and they want people to have the freedom to be themselves and be comfortable in order to retain that talent. So they say, “Let’s just...

Policy is a critical component for any organization, but it’s a place where many small businesses fall short. In some cases, the business simply hasn’t taken the time to develop their policies and share them with employees. In other cases, policies exist, but they’re...