Blogs

Blog is short for "Web log." A blog is a way for Internet users to exchange thoughts by posting messages online. The content and tone of blogs range widely from the personal daily observations to complete online business documentation.
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Critical behaviors

A behaviorally anchored rating scale is an employee appraisal system where raters distinguish between successful and unsuccessful job performance by collecting and listing critical job factors. These critical behaviors are categorized and appointed a numerical value which is used as the basis for rating performance.
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The War for Talent

Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod, authors of the book "The War for Talent," suggest that the very best companies have leaders who are obsessed with talent: they recruit ceaselessly, finding and hiring as many top performers as possible. They reward top talent disproportionately and push them into ever more senior positions.
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Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence describes the mental ability an individual possesses enabling him or her to be sensitive and understanding to the emotions of others as well as being able to manage their own emotions and impulses.
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Employee strengths

Author and productivity expert Marcus Buckingham suggests companies that focus on cultivating employees' strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses stand to dramatically increase efficiency while allowing for maximum personal growth and success. Buckingham's research found that only 17 percent of employees feel they get to play to their strengths the majority of the day.
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Contingent Workforce Strategies

Contingent Workforce Strategies magazine is published for executives and managers who use temporary or contract workers as part of their staffing strategy. The magazine features interviews with key thinkers and senior executives as well as case studies and reports of best practices, strategies, tools, metrics, and new research exploring the effective use of a contingent workforce.
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New hire severance packages

Potential new-hires are increasingly negotiating severance packages and outplacement assistance as a condition for accepting job offers, according to a USA Today article. Executives are likely to negotiate these employment terms but the practice is spreading down through the ranks. Career experts agree that this form of negotiation was once considered bad form but is now generally accepted.
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The typical personality in the HR field

Many employers look for specific personality types to fit certain jobs. According to CareerMag.com, the typical personality in the HR field is described as: cautious, gentle, and thoughtful; hesitant until they know people well then affectionate and caring; very literal and aware of the physical world; uncompromising about personal standards and easily offended; diligent and conscientious, organized and decisive.
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Employee-friendliness

Delaware, New Hampshire, and Minnesota were tops for "employee-friendliness" among all U.S. states, according to a study by the Political Economy Research Institute. The study compiled rankings for employee-friendliness based on average pay, employment opportunities, employee benefits, percentage of low-income workers, fair treatment between genders, and ability for employees to unionize.
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The Center for Human Resources

The Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1921. The Center's mission is to foster research on the strategic role of HR management in such areas as employment, labor relations, public policy, diversity, and training and education. The Center supports its mission through research, regular meetings, information bulletins, and conferences and public forums.
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Untenable employee workloads

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, more companies are making efforts to reduce untenable employee workloads. Some of the techniques to reduce workloads include: eliminate or shorten meetings, reduce internal reports, measure and monitor hours spent at work, urge employees to speak up about unnecessary or illogical tasks, and removal of redundant tasks.
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Management coaching

More organizations are making executive and management coaching a core part of executive development. A recent survey by Right Management Consultants found 86 percent of respondent companies said they used coaching to sharpen the skills of current executives or individuals who have been identified as future organizational leaders.
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WARN

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) became effective on February 4, 1989. WARN offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice sixty-days in advance of plant closings or mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives, and to the appropriate unit of local government.
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Home-based customer service

More organizations are employing home-based workers to handle customer service. According to research firm Gartner, more customer-contact centers will use outsourced home-based workers. Gartner cited lower infrastructure costs and lower turnover rates of outsourced home-based agents as the main reasons for the increase.
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HR Generalist

The HR Generalist directs implementation of human resources policies, programs, and procedures. They advise management and employees on issues or problems relating to human resources. The HR Generalist is usually a senior position and works in all areas of human resources.
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Team building

A California jury awarded $1.7 million to a woman who was spanked in front of her colleagues. According to court documents, the incident occurred during "team building" exercises where employees were encouraged to compete, losers were forced to eat baby food, wear diapers and get spanked with a rival's yard signs. The defendant company has abandoned the team building practice.
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Unethical corporate behavior

A workplace ethics survey of 1,121 managers and HR professionals, conducted by the Human Resources Institute, found that managers and HR professionals believe the leading factors that cause unethical corporate behavior are: pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives and deadlines, desire to further one's career, and the need to protect one's livelihood.
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PIP

The Potential for Improving Performance, or PIP, measures the performance of the average worker versus the best person performing a particular task. Large differences suggest that performance can be improved by bringing average performance up closer to the best performance. Small differences suggest little potential for improvement.
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Occupational Safety and Health Act

On an average U.S. workday, 152 workers will lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and illnesses, and nearly 12,000 more will be injured. The workplace fatality rate has been cut by nearly 78 percent since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970.
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Surfing the Internet

Twenty-five percent of employees say they are addicted or compulsive in surfing the Internet at work, according to a Harris Interactive survey of 305 employees and 250 HR managers. The survey found that workers spend about eight hours a week surfing non-work-related sites. The most popular sites accessed from work are news pages, shopping and auction sites.
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HR Quote of the Day

Acquiring another company creates two simultaneous impacts. First, HR must fully integrate all newly acquired employees into the organization. Second, a majority of employees acquired in an acquisition leave within the first year or at the termination of their incentive compensation agreement. HR must replace these employees, resulting in a very time intensive process.
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Employee assistance programs

Employee assistance programs (EAP) are designed to resolve problems concerning health, marriage, family, finances, alcohol, drugs, law, stress or other things that may affect an employee’s work performance. The most common EAP requests are for legal services, estate planning, family law, divorce and bankruptcy. EAP programs are usually provided at no cost to employees and their dependents.
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Pre-employment

Pre-employment screening tests have been around since 1919. There are over 50 different types of pre-employment tests and over 1,000 screening test products available on the market. Popular tests include: skills testing, behavioral and personality assessment, aptitude testing, achievement assessment, polygraph tests, drug and alcohol tests, intelligence tests, and handwriting analysis.
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Oliver Wendell Holmes

“The greatest tragedy in America is not the destruction of our natural resources, though that tragedy is great. The truly great tragedy is the destruction of our human resources by our failure to fully utilize our abilities, which means that most men and women go to their graves with their music still in them.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes.
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HR audits

A periodic HR audit can qualify its effectiveness within an organization. HR audits may accomplish a variety of objectives, such as ensuring legal compliance; helping maintain or improve a competitive advantage; establishing efficient documentation and technology practices; and identifying strengths and weaknesses in training, communications and other employment practices.
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Negative into positive

Persistent negative attitudes among employees can cause serious impacts on the success of an organization. Turn negative into positive with the following initiatives: empower employees to make decisions, solicit employee opinions, provide consistent and fair treatment, eliminate exclusionary habits, provide leadership, and provide appropriate rewards and recognition.
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Employee referral programs

According to a Society for Human Resource Management survey of human resources professionals, employee referral programs (ERPs) were found to be one of the most cost-effective recruiting methods available. Eight of ten survey respondents said that ERPs are more cost-effective than job search firms. Seven of ten said they are more cost-effective than other recruiting practices.
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The point-factor job evaluation system

The point-factor job evaluation system is a quantitative means of evaluating a specific job by compiling and weighting compensable factors or criteria that constitute its performance. Compensable factors are such things as problem solving ability, willingness to assume responsibility, and ability to plan. The Hay system is used worldwide and is the most popular of the point-factor schemes.
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Defined benefit retirement plan

A defined benefit retirement plan is a company retirement plan that promises the participant a specific monthly benefit at retirement based on salary history and years of service. The employer bears the investment risk and usually makes the contributions. An example of a defined benefit plan is a company sponsored pension plan.
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Employee turnover

Employee turnover costs can significantly affect the financial performance of an organization. On average, it costs a company about one-third of a new hire's annual salary to replace an employee. The cost to replace a minimum wage employee is about $3,700.
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