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Recent HRM Articles
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- Compensation and Benefits
- Compliance
- Employee Relations
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All
- All
- Compensation and Benefits
- Compliance
- Employee Relations
- Leadership and Culture
- Policies and Procedures
- Recruiting and Retention
Help! I’m Struggling to Handle the HR Function in my Company
January 2025
QUESTION: We are a small company, and I serve customers as well as run the business. I am having a hard time managing the needs of the customers, the staff, and the business as a whole. Something always seems to be falling through the cracks. I’ve thought about how I might get more help in the HR area – someone ...
Read More → Onboarding vs Orientation – How to Start Employees Off Right
December 2024
QUESTION: During a few recent exit interviews with departing staff, it has been suggested that improving our company’s onboarding process would make a positive impact on the employee’s overall work experience. We have a process called ‘orientation,’ but I’m worried it doesn’t include everything it should. How is onboarding different from orientation and what would I need to do to ...
Read More → Why are our employees leaving? And how do we keep them?
November 2024
QUESTION: Over the previous six months, we have lost five employees. For a company our size, that is a lot. While one departure was welcomed, the other four were surprise resignations. This is causing extreme stress as we try to maintain a full client schedule while trying to fill big holes in staffing. I’m not sure why we’ve lost so ...
Read More → Life of the Party
October 2024
QUESTION: Every year I throw a year-end holiday party at my home for my staff, their families, a few vendors and external partners. I provide everything, all the food and beverages – including adult beverages. Last year, my newly hired assistant was totally trashed by the end of the evening. Her husband had to carry her to the car. The ...
Read More → Things to Consider During the Election Season
September 2024
QUESTION: With the national election coming up, I’ve had several staff ask about flexing their time in order to vote in person. We have a busy company, and we can’t always be flexible, however, voting is important and I want to support them. Also, this particular election has become contentious, and I don’t want differences in opinions to impact our ...
Read More → How Much Should We Talk About Pay?
September 2024
QUESTION: We don’t typically talk about how much we pay each employee. We don’t share our salary ranges or hourly rates in job postings, and we work individually with candidates and employees to negotiate their base pay. We’ve recently had some questions from staff questioning their hourly rate as compared with their co-workers. I don’t know how they found out ...
Read More → Mandated Paid Sick Time – What Michigan Companies Need to Know!
August 2024
QUESTION: My inbox blew up last week with announcements about the recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling on paid sick time. I admit that while I’ve heard mention of this legal battle in the past, I’m not well-versed in what this decision really means for a small company like mine. I already offer my employees paid time off, so am I ...
Read More → How Should We Structure Our Paid Time Off Benefit?
July 2024
QUESTION: I just started a new company, and we are deciding which benefits we can offer our employees. I would like to offer paid time off for things like vacations and illness, but I’m not sure how much to provide and how to structure it. Can you share some insights based on what other companies are doing? ANSWER: In today’s ...
Read More → How can we best assess our health benefits for our LGBTQ+ employees?
June 2024
QUESTION: Recently, I’ve had two employees come to me asking whether our health benefits covered specific needs that they have as a LGBTQ+ employee. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how to respond because I realized that I didn’t know which benefits they were referring to. What should I do to better understand our benefits and be able to support these employees’ ...
Read More → How will the new federal earnings threshold impact our company?
May 2024
QUESTION: I heard that there might be some changes coming to overtime rules and I’m not sure what that’s about. I have one salaried employee who is currently making $800/week and I’m wondering if this rule will affect her. Can you help clarify so I can make sure we are complying with the law? ANSWER: The federal Fair Labor Standards ...
Read More → Supporting Working Parents as a Recruitment and Retention Strategy
April 2024
QUESTION: We have several employees, primarily mothers, who are parenting younger children. Are there strategies we should consider for recruiting, retaining and better supporting these employees? We notice that some of them struggle to balance child care, school and work schedules. ANSWER: According to data collected by Harvard University, approximately 73% of all employees have some type of caregiving ...
Read More → Utilizing “Unretired” Workers to Address Hiring Challenges
March 2024
QUESTION: We are really struggling to retain our administrative staff. Not only is it challenging to find qualified people, but those that we have hired end up not working out for a variety of reasons. These roles are so important to help our busy company run smoothly. Are there other strategies we should try to find and retain strong office ...
Read More → Ready to get started?
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