Contingent staffing

Alternative or contingent staffing includes all nontraditional work arrangements other than direct full-time employment. These staffing categories include: contractors, temporaries, consultants, self-employed, independent contractors and part-time workers.
More Human Resources

Resume pet peeves

Spelling errors, typos and poor grammar are the top resume pet peeves of HR recruiters, according to a recent ResumeDoctor.com survey of 2,500 recruiters. Other top-ranked resume annoyances: inaccurate or no dates, no contact information, poor formatting, long resumes, and resumes that include personal, unrelated information.
More Human Resources

Creative people

Psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests that creative people have one trait that most makes them different from other individuals - complexity. Csikszentmihalyi's summary of exceptionally creative people: smart but naïve, often introverted, both humble and arrogant, more androgynous than others, both conservative and rebellious.
More Human Resources

25 vacation days

It takes twenty-five years of service in the United States to achieve the mandated minimum vacation allotments in other comparable countries, according to an Economic Policy Institute study. France, Austria, and Denmark mandate at least 25 vacation days per year to employees. There is no mandated vacation time in the United States.
More Human Resources

HR executives

The criteria for hiring senior human resources executives include strong business acumen, proficiency in a variety of HR software applications and a track record of success, according to a recent CareerJournal.com article. The ability to measure and demonstrate returns on HR investments is key as well as experience with new services and technologies.
More Human Resources

Working while sick

Nearly half of all workers say they show up to work frequently while sick, according to a poll by staffing company OfficeTeam. The survey of nearly six-hundred office employees registered 49 percent of workers who go to work while sick or ill. Most medical experts agree it is preferable to take a day-off to recuperate rather than passing an illness on to coworkers.
More Human Resources

Coffee drinkers

There are nearly 110 million regular coffee drinkers in the U.S. Some of the adverse health affects of drinking coffee include: stained teeth, bad breath, increase stress level, and inducement of stomach problems. Some positive affects of coffee include: short-term body stimulant, natural diuretic, and increased short-term memory retention.
More Human Resources

Vacation

American workers receive on average about twelve vacation days a year. The typical American worker gives back an average of three vacation days, according to a recent survey by Expedia.com, leaving nearly 421 million vacation days unused. The survey estimates that 31 percent of employees do not take all their vacation days.
More Human Resources

Available jobs

According to the book "Job Search Basics, Third Edition" by Michael Farr, the most available jobs are with medium and small organizations versus larger companies. Companies with less than 250 employees account for 71% of the job market. Companies with 250 to 999 employees account for 16 percent. Companies with more than 1,000 employees account for the remaining 13 percent.
More Human Resources

Office Space

The comedy film "Office Space" was released in 1999. Aiming to get fired from his mundane job at a technology company, Peter Gibbons takes up a leisurely new attitude and the art of neglecting his work, which quickly propels him into the ranks of upper management. Not satisfied, Peter and other employees attempt a "get even", high-tech embezzling scheme in the office.
More Human Resources

Retirement savings

A survey of recent retirees conducted by Putnam Investments found over 78 percent regretted not saving more during their work years. Fifty-nine percent felt they should have started saving for retirement earlier in their careers. More than a third wished their employer or plan manager had encouraged them to save more aggressively.
More Human Resources

Moonlighters

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about seven to eight million workers are holding multiple jobs. After several years of decline, the numbers of "moonlighters" has increased in the U.S. The top reasons cited for holding multiple jobs are: to earn extra money, to pay off debt, gratitude or enjoyment, to meet people, and to gain new experience.
More Human Resources

Talking too much

The most common interview mistake that job candidates make is talking too much during the interview, according to a recent survey of recruiters conducted by executive search firm Korn/Ferry International. Other common mistakes cited by recruiters include lack of knowledge about the company or position, over-inflated ego and appearing overly confident.
More Human Resources

Training and Development Specialist

The HR Training and Development Specialist plans, produces and administers staff and management training programs. They conduct programs to develop employee skills in accordance with organization practices and policies. Additionally, they research and evaluate training resources, as well as suggest new topics and methods.
More Human Resources

Employment Manager

The HR Employment Manager directs the organization's recruitment, screening, interviewing, selection, and placement activities. They manage employment functions and staff members. In addition, they extend job offers and establish starting salaries, arrange advertising or employment agency services, and produce affirmative action or college recruiting programs.
More Human Resources

Asthma

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), asthma costs nearly $14 billion in medical expenses and results in 14.5 million missed days of work for adults each year. Based on factors such as the prevalence of asthma, outdoor air quality, and smoking laws, AAFA identified the top three U.S. metro areas for the prevalence of asthma as Knoxville, Little Rock, and St. Louis.
More Human Resources

Munchausen at Work

Georgia Tech business professor Nathan Bennett coined the term "Munchausen at Work" to describe those who create workplace "illnesses" in order to draw attention to themselves. For instance, those that withhold key information until the last moment and then step in to save the day, or others that create false rumors among employees and then dispel the rumors after having "talked to the boss."
More Human Resources

American Payroll Association

The American Payroll Association (APA) represents nearly 22,000 payroll professionals. The nonprofit association provides payroll education, training, publications as well as professional certifications. They conduct more than three-hundred payroll education conferences and seminars across the country each year and publish a library of resource texts and newsletters. APA was established in 1982.
More Human Resources

Office of Personnel Management

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the world's largest HR department. OPM provides HR services for the federal governments workforce of nearly 2.8 million workers. It's staff carry out the tasks to recruit, interview, and promote employees; oversee merit pay, benefits and retirement programs; and ensure that all employees and applicants are treated fairly and according to the law.
More Human Resources

"Work for hire"

A "work for hire" clause entitles employers to take ownership of all ideas, inventions and discoveries made by an employee as a condition of employment. It is not uncommon to include a work for hire clause in employment contracts stating, for example, that the employee agrees to sell for the sum of $1.00 any inventions, ideas and/or improvements developed during the term of employment.
More Human Resources

Ely Lilly

Drugmaker Ely Lilly ranks as one of the best American companies to work for as compiled by CNN and Money magazine. Lilly helps its employees stay healthy with free health screens and an on-site clinic of physicians, psychologists, and nurses that handles 50,000 visits a year. Unique to Lilly is its perk to pregnant employees that provides a paid month off before their due date.
More Human Resources

Global context

A growing number of organizations find themselves operating within a global context of competitors, customers, suppliers and employees, making HR more complex. HR staffs are increasingly challenged with providing traditional services across global entities: national, cultural, ethnic, religious, functional, organizational, time, distance, legal, financial, historic, economic and political.
More Human Resources

Peter Drucker

"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work." - Peter Drucker.
More Human Resources

On-site childcare

The employer trend of providing on-site childcare continues as more businesses discover the positive impact child care has in attracting and retaining quality workers. Eighty-five percent of employers report that providing child care services improved employee recruitment and almost two-thirds of employers found that providing child care services reduced turnover.
More Human Resources

ADEA

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits employers with twenty or more employees from discriminating because of age against employees aged forty and older in the terms and conditions of employment. ADEA also created standards for protecting an older worker's work benefits and for waivers of legal rights by older employees in return for retirement incentives.
More Human Resources

Projected labor shortage

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the supply of skilled and unskilled labor will fall seriously short of demand through the next several years. Millions of jobs will go unfulfilled through the next decade with labor shortages expected in several industries. The largest factor in this projected labor shortage is the increasing number of retirees from the baby boom generation.
More Human Resources

EEO-1 Report

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires larger employers to file an EEO-1 report each year, which provides a breakdown of the employer's work force by race, sex, and national origin. Employers with fewer than 100 employees and federal contractors with fewer than 50 employees and contracts under $50,000 are exempt from this requirement.
More Human Resources

National Labor Relations Board

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency that enforces the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB oversees elections to determine whether employees want union representation. They also investigate and remedy charges of unfair labor practices by employers and unions.
More Human Resources

COLA

The Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is an annual adjustment in wages to account for a change in purchasing power as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The Consumer Price Index is an inflationary indicator calculated monthly by the U.S. Department of Labor that measures the change in the cost of a fixed basket of products and services, including housing, electricity, food, and transportation.
More Human Resources

Society for Human Resource Management

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest association devoted to human resource management. The Society's mission is to advance the human resource profession and to ensure HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. SHRM was founded in 1948 and represents more than 200,000 members worldwide.
More Human Resources

Find qualified employees

Many small business owners are hard-pressed to find qualified employees given competition from larger organizations. Suggestions for competing with larger company salaries and perks include offering attractive job titles, providing more frequent salary reviews, giving discretionary bonuses, providing training, and promising mentoring and contact opportunities.
More Human Resources