HR Happens

(Disclaimer: NewsFlash! is a section of The HR Lady Blog that showcases articles and posts from other organizations that are relevant to human resources.) When Should Managers Call HR? By  Jonathan A. Segal July 21, 2020 Employers expect supervisors to resolve some issues on their own and to report other things to human resources—or possibly to in-house counsel—rather than to resolve them independently. But do you know which is which? For example, you probably know that you should report to HR all complaints of unlawful discrimination, harassment or retaliation, even if: The employee requests that the complaint be kept confidential. The employee implores the supervisor not to consult with HR. The complaint appears to lack merit. But in other instances, the line is less clear. For example, if an employee is frequently late, it's your job to resolve the issue by confronting the employee about his lateness and handling it according to established company policies. But what happens if ...

(Disclaimer: NewsFlash! is a section of The HR Lady Blog that showcases articles and posts from other organizations that are relevant to human resources.) Closed Schools, Camps and Day Cares Raise Workplace Complications for Managers With no end in sight to the pandemic, managers navigate a confusing landscape of child care conflicts Florida State University seemed to draw a line in the sand last month in the COVID-19-era debate over work and child care. In a memo, the school stated that employees could no longer care for their children while they worked remotely, reinstating a prepandemic policy. The announcement sparked a national backlash and media coverage in news outlets including  The  New  York Times ,  New York Post  and  People  magazine. And within days, the university was forced to reverse course. "We want to be clear—our policy does allow employees to work from home while caring for children," the university said in a statement. That revers...

Video conferencing software is a necessary evil in the current business landscape. It helps us connect on a virtual level, but it also comes with some serious drawbacks. Cue the dreaded "Zoom Fatigue". It's real! Your employees, coworkers and colleagues are not just making excuses to avoid video contact. This new-found workplace issue has been researched, and here are a few reasons why it causes us so much stress: Problem #1. Absence of Non-Verbal Cues In daily, face-to-face conversation, we rely on non-verbal cues to let us know when someone is excited, or concerned, or has finished speaking. These allow us to continue the conversation flow and get our points across to colleagues. Without these non-verbal cues, our brain has to go into overdrive to analyze every word that is spoken. This is similar to text and email. Without these non-verbal, in-person cues, comments and presentations can become something they are not meant to be. Problem #2. Performance Anxiety ...