At Helios, we are often asked to recommend how to best structure an organization’s HR Department. You may have heard the rule of thumb is 1 HR professional for every 100 employees. Unfortunately, it is not that simple and there is no “one size fits all” solution. There are a lot of factors that go into determining the right solution for your organization.

Do you have a message to deliver to your employees that may be tough for them to hear? How will you communicate the message in the most effective, genuine way? Sometimes it is necessary to deliver a message that will be difficult for your employees to hear, whether it is regarding negative financial reports, an acquisition, a change in leadership or even pending layoffs. How do you go about delivering this tough message?

I recently interviewed a prospective Human Resources Manager candidate and asked what one of her current challenges was. She gave an answer that included an example of two direct reports who once were the best of friends, but are now archenemies and have brought their issues with them to the workplace. In the industry that she is in, she explained that this is common behavior and that it often lands her in the position of being a mediator.

Last month at Recruit DC, I had the opportunity to sit down with Neil Costa of HireClix to discuss the best ways to improve search engine optimization (SEO) in recruiting. SEO, according to Wikipedia, is the process impacting your job opening’s (in this case) visibility in a search engine’s or site’s (such as Indeed.com) “natural” (organic) search results. The better your visibility (earlier in the results), the more clicks your job opening is likely to get. SEO matters and can have impact on the effectiveness of your recruitment advertising and your employment brand. And, most importantly, it doesn't cost much to make improvements.

With the dawn of health care reform and the increased focus on regulation and cost control, it has never been more important for employers to have a good insurance broker to help navigate the logistics and best practices surrounding benefits administration. But, not all brokers are created equal.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) turned 20 last year, celebrating two decades of providing employees with much needed job protection. For employers, the story is a little more complicated as many still struggle to understand the ever-evolving regulations and stay on top of court precedents. Compliance in small businesses can be particularly challenging as companies lack the internal expertise to interpret and comply with the law. And even when the employer does everything right, sometimes the employee still fails to meet his or her responsibilities.