Let’s Hear It For Unglamorous First Jobs

    I recently spoke with a college student interested in a career in HR who asked me which job I had held in the past that led to my promotion to Global Vice President of Human Resources.  I replied “Every job I ever had before I got into HR.” My first paying job was...

ACA Enrollment Launch: A View From the Trenches

This cartoon by Rich Ramirez pretty much sums up my experience today trying to sign up for a plan in the Indiana Health Insurance Market Place yesterday.  Anybody not downing Administration Kool-Aid like a group of college students slamming down Red Bull in advance of...

Ready or Not, ACA Health Insurance Market Places Open Today

Today ends all of the suspense surrounding the health plans and costs available to citizens as the health insurance market places open for business.  I expect a muted start for a variety of reasons: 1) The most frequent query on the healthcare.gov website through...

August Jobs Report Is A Train Wreck

The headline numbers in the jobs report released last Thursday were 169,000 and 7.3% (new jobs and U3 unemployment rate).  Tepid job growth, but hey, the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent, so all in all not bad, right?  WRONG!  Here are the miserable...

Alt-Labor Movement to Test Its Muscle on August 29

It’s no secret that the traditional model of organizing workers is struggling.  Union membership is at a 97 year low.  The large manufacturing employers who provided millions of members to the AFL-CIO are either gone entirely or shells of their former selves (auto and...

Do Dads Enjoy Workplace Flexibility Today? Nope

The push for more flexibility in the workplace is slowly gathering steam.  The media addresses it more often, legislation has been proposed (Working Families Flexibility Act to make comp time available but NOT mandated to private sector employees), and SHRM and other...

Don’t Let The Wellness Plan Grenade Go Off In Your Lap

The ACA provides clear structural and substantial support to corporate wellness plans.  These plans are enjoying a revival of interest as full implementation of the ACA is merely months away.  Businesses and HR pros should explore wellness plan opportunities with a...

Do I have to hire criminals now?

The EEOC sued both BMW and Dollar General Stores on the same day in June.  Their offense?  Their facially neutral and consistently applied policy of not considering those with criminal convictions for employment.  The EEOC has decided that since Blacks and Hispanics...