SHRM Blog

As an HR Knowledge Advisor, I often receive questions on how to go about having a difficult conversation with an employee. The reason why this topic is so popular is because many HR professionals feel uncomfortable when faced with having to speak to employees about matters ranging from performance issues to internal investigations.

I would like to share some methods that have helped me in planning for and conducting these types of conversations.

First, just breathe. This conversation is not comfortable for you or the employee. But you will be setting the...

I’ve lived in the same house since 1991. It was the first house my wife and I bought on our own. Hard to believe that 31 years have passed !! One of the attractive features of where I live is that we have a half-acre lot. There are some massively mature trees scattered throughout, but the majority of the lot is the lawn.

As you know, you can’t keep up with growing grass. We live in the Midwest and we’re fortunate to have fairly consistent rain. I’m grateful for that because I...

Forward-looking organizations use hybrid and remote mentoring to solve one of the biggest challenges in hybrid and remote work: on-the-job training and integration of junior employees. Yet despite solving this major problem, such mentoring programs pairing recently-hired staff with senior employees are all-too-rare.

Instead of using this best practice methodology, many leaders simply complain about how hybrid and remote work undermines on-the-job training and employee integration, and try to force employees to return to the office. Senior leadership and management need to adopt the  best practices for leading hybrid and remote teams for mentoring employees in the future of work.

Remote Mentoring to Solve Junior Employee Integration
To address the problem of integrating junior employees in remote and hybrid settings requires an effective structured mentoring program. You need to pair up senior staff members with junior staff members for virtual mentoring sessions.

Make sure to have one senior staff member from the junior colleague’s...

With the “Great Resignation” dominating national headlines and news broadcasts, the finer details impacting workplaces have been elevated to major national conversations. Even with a looming shift in the tide and a potential recession, employers must consider issues once left to the margins or only addressed by the most forward-thinking organizations, like mental health and wellness resources, pay transparency and how and why we bring staff together.

There has been plentiful coverage, over the last 18 months, of the ways companies can respond to a changing work environment in light of the...