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.

Innovative benefits can strengthen employee engagement at your company by showing employees their organization cares about them as a person and not just as a number. Work-life benefits take into account an employee’s life inside and outside of work and are also a great way to attract potential employees. One of the best ways to gain the interest of potential job candidates is to offer flexibility at work and advertise your organization’s innovative and competitive benefits.

The job market is slowly but surely recovering from the 2007-2009 recession. As hiring increases across the United States, more and more people are leaving their jobs voluntarily. In fact, according to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, since the recession, the number of voluntary separations has increased by 49 percent. So, how can you as an employer stop or reduce this significantly increasing voluntary turnover? One answer is by analyzing the reasons that employees are leaving. This can be done through an exit interview, ensuring that there is a conversation and not just an automated questionnaire. The difficult part once you have found out why employees are leaving, is to address the issues and come up with long-term solutions.