SHRM Blog

#Nextchat: What’s Next for Work Authorization?

Immigration reform is fully under way as the “Gang of Eight," a group of Republican and Democratic senators, introduced its bi-partisan immigration reform bill on April 18. Human resources professionals around the country are paying close attention as passage of the bill could profoundly affect their internal processes and overall talent management strategies.  

Many HR pros -- who may also be required to use the E-Verify system -- are also just getting their arms around the new I-9 form, which includes several improvements to minimize errors in completion.  The changes include:

  • Adding data fields, including the employee’s foreign
  • ...
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Talent Management 3.0

What is the ultimate goal of talent management?  The answer depends on whom you ask within the field.  For recruiters, they may say it is to find the best people for the job.  For trainers, developing employees for success in their current and future roles may be the end goal.  At the HR director level, the goal may be retention and succession planning for the best and brightest.  Talent management has many different facets, making it tempting to focus on the most immediate and salient goals within an HR professional’s job responsibilities.  But all of these facets have one very...

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HR Responds to Boston Bombing and Manhunt

Christine Lahey wasn’t sure at first what the cryptic text she received on her cell phone around 3 p.m. on April 15, 2013, meant. The message read: “I’m safe. Turn on the news.”

The text came from a co-worker who was watching the end of the Boston Marathon near the offices of Liberty Mutual Insurance, where Lahey is vice president of employee relations and human resource services.

“I was at home and received this text within 10 minutes of the blast,” Lahey recalled. “I didn’t know up until that point that there had been an attack.”

Both explosions that tore...

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What Do Succession Planning and Aging Parents have in Common?

I’ve discussed the issue of aging parents numerous times and am currently at the place in life where I’m starting to put a plan together to make sure that if and when something happens to either of my parents, the transition will be a smooth one. Whether an illness, an accident or perhaps my parents come to the point they can no longer take care of themselves, proactive preparedness is a much better approach than avoiding the inevitable.

When we’re younger, we tend to think that things will always stay the same, we’ll always have the friends in high school...

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Interview with Dr. Jeff Pon, chief human resources officer at #SHRM

One of the most interesting HR roles I’ve had was being the vice president of human resources for a global HR consulting firm. On one hand, it’s great to work with people who truly “get” your job – because they’ve been there themselves. On the other hand, everyone has an opinion about your job for the same reason – they’ve been there.

Dr. Jeff Pon is in the exact same situation.

I had the opportunity to meet Jeff last year at the Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference. If you have the chance to connect with him...

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Comp Time Blog Submissions by SHRM Members

The week of April 15-19 is SHRM’s Advocacy Team (A-Team) blog week. The theme is “comp time”.  Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) has introduced a comp bill, the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 (H.R.1406). The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to allow employers to provide comp time, that gives private sector employers the option of offering their hourly employees the choice of paid time off for overtime hours worked.  

SHRM is supportive of this proposal. Read our position paper.

The following are HR professionals blog posts in support of H.R.1406  “comp...

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HR Evangelism!

When I look out today across the HR landscape, I see something that is a great opportunity! Those in the HR social media community have the chance to truly bridge the gap with the profession as a whole.

I love seeing the great work that others produce in their blogs, their books and in their presentations. There is an amazing amount of material out here that ranges from HR generalist topics to compliance to development. The spectrum is amazingly broad, but not that deep. I don’t mean that as a shot. I think that there are an incredible...

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#Nextchat: The Extinction of Great Leaders

There’s so much talk about employee engagement these days. Companies are bending over backwards to attract, retain and engage the best talent with interesting work and top-notch benefits. They offer health insurance, 401Ks, tuition reimbursement and EAP. There's casual dress–pizza-ice cream–bring-your-dog-to-work Friday, and if you like sushi -- it’s free and it’s in the all-you-can-eat 24x7 employee cafeteria located between the child care facility and the dry cleaner.

And still we see high levels of disengagement. 

Are organizations blind to the notion that it’s not necessarily what we give our employees that engages them, but...

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Managing HR in the Age of Acronyms

For HR professionals, ensuring their company maintains compliance with all regulatory requirements is a key aspect of the job and necessary to avoid compliance issues and the resulting penalties. Yet, it is easy to get lost in all of the legal verbiage and numerous acronyms; keeping track of policies like FMLA, ADA, ADAAA, ENDA, FSLA, ADEA, IRCA, ERISA may have you asking: HUH?

In an environment of increasing regulations, HR needs to ensure its operations throughout the talent management lifecycle – recruitment, interviewing, compensation, time off and termination – are in accordance with all state and federal...

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