No, that’s not employee relations, although, I guess it could be since increasing productivity might be seen as an employee relations success.
What ER really stands for is Early Riser. And it comes from a notion put out by John Challenger of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas who thinks companies should try an ER Shift […]

Okay, so I’ve been reading a lot of things lately about baby boomers and the loss of organizational knowledge. This is suppose to be one of the biggest losses that organizations may face in the near future. It happens when baby boomers retire and take with them all of their knowledge, skills and expertise.
From […]

Previously I wrote about the good and the bad sides of outsourcing. The ugly side of offshoring focuses on ideas that are generally neither good nor bad, but are more concepts that organizations should understand when considering offshoring.

Probably the biggest ugly side to offshoring is the current cultural differences between the U.S. and the […]

Now that we’ve discussed some of the upside to offshoring, let’s talk about the downside.
Most notably is the financial loss to families from jobs being outsourced to other countries. Initially it appeared that the jobs being outsourced to places like the Philippines, China and India were primarily manufacturing, information technology, and call center management.
However, there […]

Offshoring, for those who aren’t familiar with this term, is the outsourcing of American jobs to foreign shores, a very unpopular idea for many, especially those in manufacturing, information technology and customer service, the industries that appear to be the hardest hit – so far.

Now while I understand the concern about the offshoring of […]

Managing employee performance isn’t always easy. It takes a lot of work to coach and guide a team to greatness and to recognize and develop talent.
So here are four things to consider when managing employee performance.
1. Handle issues as they arise. You cannot expect someone to learn, if you do not provide them immediate feedback […]

Performance management is an all-encompassing expression meant to describe the process of overseeing the performance of your team members through a variety of methods such as one-on-one coaching, goal setting and achievement, and the regular performance appraisal system.
But performance management falls short when a manager does not utilize the tools available to him on […]

The general idea behind performance management is to regularly work with employees to ensure they consistently meet pre-established performance-based goals.
Sounds simple, huh?
It’s not.
First, not everyone agrees with what the expression “performance management” actually means.
Some think it’s the annual performance appraisal review. Others believe it means just managing the performance of their employees through coaching and […]

A couple of weeks ago while watching the Today Show I heard a new term: presenteeism.
Well, new to me anyway. The term, that is. The concept has been around for years. It’s the opposite of absenteeism. It’s when a sick employee who should really stay home and get well decides to go to work and […]

I recently read that a survey done by Circadian Technologies indicated that absenteeism was up and employee morale was a large factor.
All my years in human resources made me say, “Duh.”
After all if employees are dissatisfied with their work environment what on earth is going to compel them to want to go there each day?
It […]