Yes, You Do Need Job Descriptions
I meet a lot of resistance when I ask employers about job descriptions, and I get it: Job descriptions are not legally required, and they’re a little time-consuming to create. But that’s the end of the arguments against them. The list of arguments for thorough, well-formed job descriptions is much longer. Maybe your organization has .. read more
Conflict Will Come. Are You Ready?
Conflict can happen like a slow leak or an explosion. It never goes unnoticed, and it rarely fails to leave its mark on an organization. Still, conflict is practically a mark of success. It says that you’ve built a team of highly engaged, thoughtful, intelligent, and confident individuals. People who are invested in the company .. read more
Combating High Workers’ Compensation Premiums
Workers’ compensation premiums can really hurt your profitability, especially if you’re in a high-risk industry. And if you’re one of the unlucky few who have higher-than-usual claims within a high-risk business, keeping up industry-average profitability is almost impossible. So what can you do? There is just one answer—just one effective, sustainable approach: Get proactive and .. read more
Four Reasons to Outsource HR Work
Cash savings. What business owner wouldn’t want that? It’s a completely valid reason to outsource HR work and easily the number-one reason that most businesses do. But to think only about saving money is to sell short the greater value of contracting out human resource management services to outsourcing companies like Axiom Human Resource Solutions. .. read more
Human Resource Information Systems: It’s About Protecting Your Business
I have spent the past three weeks digging through mountains of paperwork in a client worksite, attempting to make sense of 17 years of clutter and rapid growth. This particular client now employs upwards of 100 individuals, and over the years has had several different managers in operations, accounting, and human resources. After nearly 50 .. read more
Simple, Smart, and So Often Overlooked: I-9 Compliance
More than 2,300 companies underwent I-9 audits in 2011. That’s a huge number from a record-setting year, and 2012 will see even more I-9 audits. You can’t ensure you won’t end up in the audit group, but you can make sure you’re ready. I often find myself scratching my head about how businesses fail to .. read more
Workplace Policies
Wherever humans are, there lies the potential for misunderstanding, conflict, inconsistency, manipulation, and outright deception. That’s not cynical, just realistic. Even when all of those humans have a vested interest in each other’s success ¾ which is the best-case scenario of a workplace that we, ahem, don’t always encounter ¾ there may be innocent errors. .. read more
Complexities of HIPAA Compliance: A Case for Human Resource Outsourcing
I was recently approached with a question regarding the application of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in structuring management and job descriptions within a privately held company. Specifically, the question presented was directly related to the Privacy Rule regulating the use and disclosure of certain information held by “covered entities.” .. read more
Company Culture and Russian Roulette
I am no longer shocked to meet with owners of successful businesses who have absolutely no human resource infrastructure or concrete policies in place. It seems the norm that entrepreneurs who go into business and experience success at doing what they know how to do, tend to err on the side of recklessness when it .. read more
Options In Human Resource Management
If you are a business owner, there is a distinct possibility that you are unaware of the time spent performing transactional human resource functions in the workplace. These functions regularly reduce the time you and your staff spend generating revenue; furthermore, improper administration of human resource functions may pose a significant risk to your business .. read more
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