This scenario may sound familiar—you are anxiously searching for a new position and filling out an online job application for your dream role, when a required question appears: ‘What is your current salary?’. Or worse, you are at an in-person interview that seems to be going great when an interviewer asks you what you currently earn.

Planning a company holiday party can become overwhelming if you overly concern yourself with trying to please everyone. It’s important to keep the purpose of the event at the forefront of your mind at all times, it’s to celebrate with and show appreciation for your employees and their hard work.

As is the case with many employment related statutes, exactly how and what your organization must adhere to depends largely on an often complex combination of state and federal law, as well as any employer specific policies. Overtime pay is certainly no exception. Overtime actually functions much like minimum wage in that the employer must pay to the higher standard (either state or federal), i.e. the standard that results in the largest pay out to the employee working overtime hours.

Download this free printable Daylight Savings Time Change Poster to alert your staff of the impending time change on Sunday, November 5, 2017.

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For many managers or HR professionals, they’ve encountered an entitled tenured employee once or twice in their career. You know, the employee who thinks because they were a top performer in 2007 that they can slack off and still reap the benefits as someone producing twice the results but is half their age. Just because they have company “loyalty.”

WRITTEN BY DR. DAVID WATTERSON, FOUNDER OF ERC'S AFFILIATE, WATTERSON & ASSOCIATES, INC.

It is true that becoming a “great workplace” doesn’t happen overnight. But instead of getting overwhelmed by a seemingly endless list of programs and offerings (and money...being “great” must cost so much money!) that so called “great workplaces” should all have, let’s take a look at what it means really to be “great”—with a few practical bite-sized pieces that you might be able to tackle at your organization right now sprinkled in for good measure.

Developing a budget for training or professional development for your employees can be a daunting task for many HR professionals. The average direct learning expenditure per employee is $1,273 according to the Association for Talent Development’s (ATD) 2017 State of the Industry report. This report also found that the average amount of formal learning hours per employee is 34.1, not including informal learning such as on-the-job learning. Both of these figures are increases from previous years which reveals organizations are putting more effort and money into developing their workforce. Being clear about specific training needs and associated costs is critical for budget planning purposes. However, there are so many unknowns that occur during the year that trigger the need for a specific training that could throw off an entire budget.

Completing a Form I-9 is likely one of the most routine administrative tasks that an HR professional handles. After all, every time a new employee is hired, or when an employee’s employment authorization or documentation of employment authorization has expired, another Form I-9 must be completed. While it may be easy to get in a routine with completing these forms, there are a few mistakes that are commonly made, but easy to avoid.

Dealing with benefits can be extremely rewarding when you see the positive impact it makes on an employee and their family. However, when it comes to certain benefits, compliance and legality can become an overwhelming concern for employers.