Obesity and Lost Productivity

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A recent Gallup poll has revealed that workers who are overweight or obese miss 450 million more work hours each year than workers who are normal weight. This absentee rate has lead to about $153 billion in lost productivity each year. Less than 15 percent of the workforce is not overweight and does not have… Read more »

Looking at Personality and Character When Hiring

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When looking at job a candidate, there are many factors to consider in making a decision as to whether someone will be successful or not in the job. Naturally, education and training play a key role in making a hiring decision. But there are other factors as well. Personality and character traits – the so-called… Read more »

Human Resources and Improving a Business

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Human resource departments are not doing enough to get out in front and help their organizations change and improve the way they work, according to business consultant Brad Power. Some business leaders see their human resources department more as a bureaucracy where innovative thinking is not encouraged. Others say human resources is not used enough…. Read more »

Watching for False Statements on Resumes

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With the job market as tight as it is, it may come as little surprise that there has been an appreciable increase in false statements made on resumes, according to hiring managers. It has become more of a widespread problem. Job candidates tell outright falsehoods, or they will leave out important facts about their background… Read more »

IT Trends and Hiring

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Information technology is more and more playing a dominant role in many businesses, and human resource departments need to get out in front of these IT trends or they risk losing out to rivals in the hunt for talent with the skills to navigate in these up and coming areas. One big trend right now… Read more »

Good Business Writing for Human Resources Professionals

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f you work in human resources, you must often send memos and e-mails, create reports or PowerPoint presentations. Naturally, you want to make these writings as effective and powerful as possible. But how exactly do you go about doing that? David Silverman, a former businessman and current business writing professor, has some advice on the… Read more »

The Changing Workforce and Worker Classification

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As changes in management techniques, the economy and technology lead to changes in the workforce, employers are struggling to keep abreast of guidelines on worker classification. Because of this, the Society for Human Resource Management has called on the federal government to clarify the statutory and other regulations that classify workers as employees or independent… Read more »

Human Resources’ Evolving Role

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A recent study by the firm of Towers Perrin on the human resources function in business came to the following conclusion – that the role of human resources is changing from a more isolated, independent department to one that is now more integrated with the other areas of the company, and one which works with… Read more »

Planning for a Layoff

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Although getting laid off can be a traumatic experience, experts say you shouldn’t panic. You need to be calm and levelheaded to plan a course of action for while you are unemployed and to plan a strategy for finding another job. There are several things you can do to help yourself get through this tough… Read more »

Don’t Burn Your Bridges: The Art of Declining a Job Offer

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Sounds like the kind of “problem”  we all wish we have in this economy – feeling that we should decline a job offer. Yet declining a job offer the wrong way can have an adverse impact on your career. Here’s how to decline an offer the right way. Thank the hiring manager for the offer…. Read more »