Back in 2006, I wrote a blog entry called “What Keeps You Up At Night?” about the priorities of HR leaders. Here is the original blog post (as it appeared at my main blog Here We Are. Now What?), followed by some current thoughts.

Original Post

A handy needs assessment tool I learned years ago is [...]

The skies have gotten dark over central New Jersey as we await the arrival of Hurricane Irene, just two days since the East Coast earthquake. This is the time to “batten down the hatches” to prepare for the worst.

To “batten down the hatches” is a flavorful phrase. According to the dictionary, it comes down to [...]

Generational differences are an issue that affects work process, teams, boss-subordinates and client relationships. It rears its nasty head in that magnificent buzz-word, “communication breakdown.” Generational differences are fraught with conflicting assumptions, frustrations and misunderstanding. The same Gen-Yers who have not the slightest difficulty working with issues of sexual orientation, culture and color often find [...]

I’ve been thinking more about this post. The one where I wrote about how competencies in specific tools are already starting to go by the wayside (and will only get worse). Then I think about the short term (and terrifying) consequences of becoming an expert in anything fluid like certain social media tools.

Look at an [...]

Break work into chunks

one bit one byte one more step

big is made of small

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Should you jump on the bandwagon of unlimited vacation? It’s touted as a good way to reward employees without increasing costs. However, it’s not without its pitfalls, says attorney Christina Gomez.

The concept of unlimited vacation is very simple: Employees can take vacation, personal, and sick time (anything that would fit into a paid time off [...]

Recently on a discussion board at LinkedIn, Information Technology executive Jackie Barretta started a conversation about the connection between highly engaged workers and profits. She asked:

“Why does employee engagement lead to higher profitability? Please see my research http://bit.ly/pjuqU4. I think this can help us create stronger organizations. Let me know if you agree or have [...]

“Fire the slugs,” says management expert Jeff Cortes. That’s good turnover and also it’s good for retention – all of your other employees have been wondering when you would act.

“There’s good and bad turnover,” says Cortes, author of the book, No Nonsense Retention, which he characterizes as a collection of no-nonsense ways to retain your [...]