Did you know that Alabama has a “College Application Campaign”? A statewide initiative with the goal of having EVERY high school senior in the state apply to at least one college. I found this out last week thanks to the high school guidance counselor’s weekly email blast. I’ll be honest, as an HR professional, I had to hold myself back from sending her an email outlining the negative impact of such a campaign. I’m still tempted to. I graduated high school many moons ago, in an era when high schools still had classes like shop, mechanics, and electrical design. I
I’m the mother of three boys. Two teenagers and one about to hit that “preteen” stage. Most days I want to bang my head against the wall. I feel like I need a support group for moms of teens. I miss when they were little and hung on my every word. Now I’m lucky if I can get them to take the earbuds out long enough to hear anything I say. We recently went on vacation and I forced them to put their phones away and engage in conversation with me. That request got me dirty looks and eye rolls.
Your top employee or best manager just walked into your office holding that dreaded piece of paper. You know, the one with the words “thank you for this great opportunity, I respectfully resign my position” typed neatly on it. As you read it, your mind starts brainstorming “what can I do to get them to stay?!” You can’t lose them, they’re the best of the best. You’ll never be able to find someone with their skill set and knowledge of the organization. You’ll spend months training their replacement just to get them up to speed. You’ve invested so much into
In fifteen years as an HR practitioner, there’s one question I can probably pinpoint as the most asked question I have gotten over the years. “Why can’t I just classify them as an independent contractor?” It’s estimated that by 2020 40% of the US workforce will be freelancers or temp employees, up from 30% in 2006. With that number growing, it’s even more important for organizations to understand the independent contractor classification and when it can be used. The penalties for misclassifying employees as independent contractors can include back payment of taxes, interest owed to employees for wages not paid,
The best piece of advice I heard at the recent SHRM19 National Conference came from Cy Wakeman’s session “Business Readiness: Ensuring Our Teams are Ready for What’s Next.” As a consultant, I spend a great deal of my time helping organizations navigate change, from determining what change is needed to creating the roadmap of how to accomplish the change to how to get employee buy-in. The hardest part is often getting employees on board, helping them understand the need for change and addressing their resistance. The current change management process caters too much to the individual employee when it should