Are Your Employees SAD? How to Help Employees Who Struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder

It’s that time of year. The weather is changing, the leaves are falling, and you’re SAD. But you’re not alone. Nearly 10 million Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. While SAD is most prevalent in those ages 18 to 30, it can affect anyone, and the effects are different for everyone.  Symptoms of SAD include:  Fatigue Loss of concentration  Insomnia/Inability to wake up Mild to severe depression Weight loss/gain Employers may see these symptoms in the form of attendance issues, decreased productivity, mistakes in work completed, or a lack of concentration in meetings. Your initial reaction may be to consider

7 Things to Consider in Wage Fairness

Pay disparity has long been a topic, most notably with discrepancies in pay between women and minority groups.   The #metoo movement and #blacklivesmatter movements have brought this issue even further to the forefront.   And rightly so.  Payscale published its annual Gender Pay Gap Report in March, stating that, “Since we have started tracking the gender pay gap, the difference between the earnings of women and men has shrunk, but only by an incremental amount each year. There remains a disparity in how men and women are paid, even when all compensable factors are controlled, meaning that women are

8 Steps to Take if Your Compensation is Out of Line with the Market

2020 has been a year of polar opposite reports about compensation from our clients.  Some have implemented hiring and pay freezes, even laid people off, while others have more business than they know what to do with and are concerned they are losing people because their wages are not competitive with the market.   So, what do you do if you are concerned about the market competitiveness of your wages? First, decide if you haven’t already, what your wage strategy is. Do you want/need to lead, lag, or meet the market?  Knowing your destination before you take the journey is important. 

Is Employment Really At-Will?

One of the questions I often help employers work through is can they terminate an employee. And too often I hear “But we’re in an at-will state” or “we’re an at-will employer”. At-will employment is often misinterpreted to mean that an employer can terminate an employee whenever they please, and while at-will employment policies do state that the employee or employer can terminate employment at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice, there are limitations to that on the part of the employer.  First, all states are at-will employment states. Some states have added legislation that

Stop Selling When Interviewing Candidates

When I was a recruiter, interviews started off with a little overview of the organization.  I’d tell them a little bit about what it was like to work for our company and also cover information about how the interview and hiring process worked before launching into questions.   I often had the chance to sit with hiring managers interviewing candidates as well.   The difference in how the hiring manager handled the first part of the interview related to information about the company was always interesting.  Some said very little if anything about the organization or their department and/or team, while