Working in a union environment has its pros as well as its cons. The purpose of a union is to have a group of organized workers come together and use their strength to have a voice in the decision-making of their workplace. The unionized group can demand or negotiate changes in their wages, work hours, benefits, safety, job training and other issues that are concerns. There are employees and managers that have successfully worked in a unionized environment their entire career. On the other end of the spectrum, there are workers and leaders that much prefer to not to have an entity exercise a level of control and dictation within the organization. For those that prefer to remain union-free, there are a number of tactics that can help alleviate the need for employees to bring in a union as the solution.

The health of your human capital should be one of your organization’s top priorities year after year. All levels of management should be just as concerned about this issue as they are other financial objectives and goals you are trying to achieve. Studies have shown a healthy and engaged organizations lead to better customer service, increased retention and better bottom line results. As an HR Business Partner to various organizations in the DC Metro area, I find many organizations focus on the costs of healthcare and don’t focus on creating a healthy organization through strategic initiatives. This leads to programs that are incomplete and don’t accomplish what they are set out to do. The rest of this article will provide your organization with the seven steps necessary to develop the best wellness program for your firm.

The hardest part about being a Recruiter, in my opinion, is letting a candidate know that they were not selected for the position for which they interviewed. Over the past six years of recruiting, this was never an easy task, nor does it ever get any easier and it is safe to say it is my least favorite part of my job. While recruiters should try to avoid developing personal relationships with their candidates, the Human factor of Human Resources always comes into the picture when disqualifying a candidate, especially if you have been working with them throughout a lengthy interview/selection process forming a bond. While these tips/techniques may not alleviate the knot in your stomach when you relay the unfortunate message, it may provide you and the candidate a bit more comfort:

Over the years I’ve worked with a range of companies in various industries and I’ve found that managing the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a common challenge. The FMLA provision was implemented in 1993 as a means to allow eligible employees to have job protection while taking care of medical needs for themselves or eligible family members. The concept of FMLA was great, in the sense that employees could take off the time they needed to get well, return to work, and not worry about being fired or terminated while out. However, over time, there have been lots of concerns regarding loopholes that are being taken advantage of by employees.

Thank your employees, or coworkers, 365 days a year. It seems like a simple thing to do. Find something - anything - one of your direct reports or coworkers has does well on the job and compliment them about it. After informally polling a random sampling of friends, coworkers and family members, I was not surprised to find the vast majority of people answered affirmatively that they do not do this. The most common response back to my informal poll was, “I don’t compliment my coworkers 365 days a year, but I try to do this as often as possible.” While this is a good start, and with the impending holiday season is upon us, it got me thinking: how can we all thank the people we work for, and with, every single day of the year?