Condescending tones

The use of condescending tones is one of the biggest pet peeves at work, according to recent survey of 2,318 employees by workforce solutions company Randstad USA. Other workplace pet peeves include: public reprimands, micromanaging, loud talkers, cell phones ringing, speakerphones, personal conversations, and the use of PDAs during meetings.
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Margaret J. Wheatley

"The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity." - Margaret J. Wheatley.
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The Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard concept is a management and measurement system which enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. The goal of the balanced scorecard is to tie business performance to organizational strategy by measuring results in four areas: financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
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Non-literate in English

Five percent of U.S. adults, or about 11 million people, lack literacy in English, according to the Department of Education. People classified as Non-literate in English were not able to communicate with interviewers or were unable to answer a minimum number of questions during a literacy assessment.
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Employee Benefit Advisor

Employee Benefit Advisor magazine provides in-depth articles for benefit advisers, brokers, consultants, worksite marketers and enrollment specialists. The publication provides need-to-know benefits information, market influences such as legal and regulatory changes, new benefit products, and better ways of delivering, marketing and selling benefits.
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Formal severance

Employers with formal severance policies spend less on severance packages than those that do not, according to a study by Right Management Consultants Inc. Companies with informal policies tend to incur higher administrative and severance costs associated with the packages due to policy decisions that are made on a case-by-case basis, often resulting in more generous packages.
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Title inflation

Title inflation is the practice of offering an employee an inflated or trumped-up job title in lieu of a salary increase. The employee's actual duties at the company may not be on par with the salary level generally associated with their inflated title. Title inflation generally occurs during tight labor market conditions.
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Newspaper job listings

Nearly 75% of job-seekers still use newspapers to look for employment, according to a report released by the Conference Board. The survey of five-thousand households found nearly sixty percent of job-seekers use the Internet to look for employment. The Western U.S. is the only area of the country where the Internet topped newspapers among those seeking jobs.
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HR-XML

The HR-XML Consortium is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the development and promotion of a standard suite of XML specifications to enable the efficient exchange of HR data. The mission of the HR-XML Consortium is to spare employers and vendors the risk and expense of having to negotiate and agree upon data interchange mechanisms on an ad-hoc basis.
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Overqualified

Workers holding a bachelor's degree who make less than $19,800 a year are considered "overqualified." Nearly eight percent of U.S. residents are considered overqualified, according to a recent Migration Policy Institute study of Census Bureau data. This compares to nearly 24 percent of foreign-born, non-citizen residents that are considered overqualified.
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Part-time work

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nearly five million people who desire full-time jobs have settled for part-time work, up nearly 30% from five years earlier. Only 17% of part-time workers get health insurance benefits from employers, and only 21% of part-timers are included in employers' pension plans, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
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FLSA

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are not required to pay nonexempt employees while on leave for jury service. FSLA requires employers to pay full salaries to exempt employees who are absent from work for less than one week to perform jury service. The same requirements apply to employees who must appear as a witness or a defendant in a court case.
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National holidays

There are no mandated national holidays in the U.S. The President and Congress can legally designate holidays only for federal government employees. There are currently ten federal holidays. Each of the fifty U.S. states has jurisdiction over its holidays. In practice, most states observe the federal holidays, in addition to their own public holidays which are observed at the state or local level.
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HR Director

The HR Director is a top-level manager responsible for the administration of all human resource activities and policies. The director oversees compensation, benefits, staffing, affirmative action, employee relations, health and safety, and training/development functions. They also supervise professional human resources staff.
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Employee discrimination

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) collected a record $45,156,462 from federal contractors and subcontractors in violation of employee discrimination laws in 2007. Employers who do business with the federal government are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or covered veteran status.
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Workplace lie

A recent CareerBuilder.com survey found 15% of employees had been caught in a lie at the office. The most common reasons for telling a workplace lie was to appease a customer, to cover up a failed project, or to explain an unexcused absence or late arrival. A vast majority of hiring managers said they were less likely to promote an employee who had lied to them or other members of the organization.
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ISO 9000

ISO 9000 is an international set of five related quality standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization. Businesses that are certified to these standards have documented, repeatable processes for ensuring that they deliver quality products. The ISO 9000 requirements were established in 1987.
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HRPS

The Human Resource Planning Society (HRPS) is a global association of over 3,000 members comprised of senior human resource executives, consultants, faculty and researchers. HRPS serves as a global forum for presenting the latest key business issues and strategic HR practices. HRPS provides professional development programs as well as events for exchange of HR ideas, information, and experiences.
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GPHR certification

The Global Professional in Human Resources certification was established by the Human Resource Certification Institute as a way to recognize professionals involved in the global practice of human resources. GPHR certification demonstrates mastery of strategic management; organizational effectiveness; employee development; global staffing, compensation and benefits; and international employee relations.
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HR staffing

The historical rule of thumb for HR staffing requirements is one full-time professional HR person should be hired for every 100 employees. The actual ratio for a business can vary depending upon factors such as the degree of HR centralization, the geographic distribution of the employees served, the sophistication level of the employees, and the relative complexity of the organization.
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Presenteeism

Presenteeism is the loss of productivity that occurs when workers are present but not performing. Causes of presenteeism include medical issues, personal and family-related issues, and negative workplace perceptions. Presenteeism can be reduced through employee satisfaction assessments, occupational and disability management, employee assistance programs, and work/life programs.
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Best Workplaces for Commuters

The EPA's Best Workplaces for Commuters ranks companies by their efforts to reduce fuel consumption, vehicle emissions, and traffic congestion. Companies make the list by offering their employees commuter benefits, such as subsidies, incentives, flexible work schedules, telecommuting, facilities for bikers, and on-site daycare.
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The Adamson Act

The Adamson Act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. The law established for railroad workers an eight-hour workday with additional pay for overtime work. This was the first federal law that regulated the hours of workers in private companies in the U.S. The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act made the eight-hour work day a "legal work day" work throughout the nation.
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Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is a formalized method of training curriculum program that combines classroom education with on-the-job work under close supervision. The training curriculum is planned in advance and conducted in careful steps from day to day. Most trade apprenticeship programs have a duration of three to four years before an apprentice is considered completely accomplished in that trade or profession.
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Telecommuting

An estimated 15 to 20 million U.S. workers telecommute from home at least part of their work time. The advantages of telecommuting include better recruitment incentive for hiring, higher worker productivity resulting from less commute time, and better office space use efficiency. A disadvantage of telecommuting is the decrease in synergy achieved when workers are physically near one another.
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Just-in-time training

Just-in-time training (JITT) is employee training immediately prior to its usage in production. The advantage to implementing JITT is the shortened time between learning and application. JITT is usually offered and deployed through automated software training systems. When an employee requires new training, they log in to the appropriate software library and begin learning.
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Right to Work laws

Right to Work laws secure the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union. Before passage of right to work laws as part of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, an employee opting for non-union status could be fired even if the employee did not violate any of the employer's rules. There are currently twenty-two states with right to work provisions.
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Stock Options

Stock Options are options to purchase a predetermined number of company stock shares at a future date. The stock option owner gains if the company's stock price rises above the option price thus providing an incentive to improve the company performance and associated stock price. Stock options are usually vested over a period of time in order to compel employees to stay with the company.
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Defined contribution plans

A defined contribution plan is a retirement plan wherein a certain amount or percentage of money is set aside each year for the benefit of the employee. The benefits are based on the amount contributed and are also affected by income, expenses, gains and loses. Some examples of defined contribution plans include 401(K) plans, 403(b) plans, employee stock ownership plans and profit sharing plans.
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Unfilled jobs

A vacated or unfilled job within an organization results in tangible, measurable costs as well as intangible costs. The intangible costs include the uncompensated increased workloads other employees assume during the vacancy, the added stress and tension during and after the turnover, declining employee morale, and decreased work group synergy.
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