Organizational leaders that I’ve worked with have always had an innate understanding of some of the basic rights of their employees. What I’ve found to be less well understood, even among some in the HR field, are additional rights that employees have which are less intuitive. A number of these un-intuitive rights are derived from the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA).

White-Collar Exemption Changes Are Here Last March, I wrote an article when the topic of the DOL FLSA White Collar-Exemption change was being discussed. At that time there was a lot of uncertainty about what the new minimum salary threshold would be; when this rule would take effect; and how much supervisory responsibility an employee would have to have to be considered exempt. Well, wait no more because effective December 1, 2016, the new rules go into effect.

The Trillion Dollar Jackpot Lurking in HR Companies, large and small alike, are always trying to find ways to increase bottom line results and return profits to the organization, shareholders and employee base to signal healthy business operations and strong leadership. I cannot name one client of mine who is not laser focused on some form of growth or revenue strategy to either sustain or grow their footprint within a given region or industry. In fact, most of my compensation related engagements center on the design and implementation of incentive plans to motivate employees to either capture more revenue or enhance business operations in an effort to optimize business and financial results. In most cases organizations achieve better business results by expanding product offerings, cutting expenses or deepening its expertise in a particular area. I can vouch that the aforementioned measures usually do result in improved fiscal and operational results; however there is one place many decisions makers are overlooking to unlock financial gains and operational efficiencies…..you guessed it, Human Resources.

What we Learned from Live! with Kelly & Michael... On Tuesday, April 26, 2016, the television show, Live! with Kelly & Michael’s audience welcomed Kelly Ripa’s return to daytime television with a standing ovation. Kelly returned to the show after taking a few days off to celebrate her wedding anniversary and a few extra impromptu days (sick days) were taken off to allow her time to process Michael Strahan’s departure from Live. According to entertainment news, Kelly did not receive the news of Michael’s departure until a few moments prior to the information being released to the public. She was given no time to process and according to news articles, Michael Strahan was not allowed to discuss his departure with others.

Around election time, we hear a couple of questions that consistently come up by our clients. Time off for voting, the do’s and don’ts of how to handle politics in the workplace, and most importantly, how to encourage voter participation. Find out how I respond to these questions below!