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Halloween at the Office: More Treats, Less Tricks

We may not be kids anymore, but many of us still love Halloween. And workplace celebrations offer more than a sugar rush and the chance to wear something silly — they can be a simple yet effective way to boost morale. As such a widely celebrated holiday, Halloween is unlikely to raise issues of discrimination or offense, so it’s a …

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Free Speech: Is It Really Free at the Office?

We Americans love to tout our First Amendment rights, particularly the freedom to express our opinions. But do those freedoms apply around the water cooler? Sure, federal law prohibits employers from firing people over things like gender, race or religion.  And union members may be shielded by contracts that say terminations must be performance-based. But once the scope broadens, many …

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Preparing for Emergencies: Part 3 – Training

So you’ve checked all the boxes — you’ve brainstormed possible emergencies, sought input, come up with a thorough emergency plan, and made sure to account for employees that may need extra help. Are you all set? Not quite. Making an emergency plan work means taking the plan from paper to real life. That means training — and practice. Employees should …

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Preparing for Emergencies: Part 2 – Assisting People with Disabilities

We discussed the importance of thinking through potential emergencies and coming up with a plan to handle them, but an effective plan also must account for the needs of employees with various types of disabilities. During the planning process, there are opportunities for clear and acceptable communication between employees and employers, and usually people with disabilities will be best able …

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Cell Phones in your Workplace

More than 80 percent of workers keep a smartphone in their view throughout the workday – and our collective phone addiction costs employers two or more hours each day, according to a CareerBuilder survey. More than half of employers said phones and texting were the No. 1 distraction for their employees, beating smoke breaks and socializing. That’s vexing, to be …

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Nagging Questions: Religion in the Workplace

Next week is a sacred time for the country’s two largest religions. More than 231 million Americans will commemorate Passover or Easter. That’s more than 100 million employees, and more than 100 million opportunities for manager missteps. It’s imperative to understand how to address religion in a respectful, compliant way. Sensitivities can exist even with day-to-day issues like PTO and …

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Performance Appraisals – Open Letters From A Manager and Employee

There are many companies that have found a wonderful performance appraisal system while others continue to review systems to match their corporate culture. To all those companies that found a great fit, I say bravo. To those who are still looking, take a deep breath. Imagine for a moment if you could say what you truly feel about performance appraisals …

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Not Having Policies Can Carry a High Price Tag

Unlike our supposed competitors, at hr-haven we really aren’t into scare tactics. We don’t scare the living daylights out of business owners in order to secure business from them. But, every once in a while we see something that we feel is necessary to pass along to keep our entrepreneurial brothers and sisters from inadvertently screwing up the business they’ve …

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Welcome to Unlimited PTO

If you are like the companies we work with you have at least considered going to an Unlimited PTO policy, and it sounds like it would be easy right. No more tracking when someone takes two hours off in the morning because they had to take their dog to the vet or because they worked 14 hours they day before. …