Welcome To The New Era Of Human Resources
Jared Lindzon, Fast Company: “The function of human resources departments has remained the same for over 100 years. That’s all about to change.
As recruiting gets more competitive and organizations put further emphasis on acquiring and retaining top talent, many believe that HR professionals of the near future will be part of the core management team.
But the industry has thus far been slow to react to these changes. In a recent survey by Deloitte, only 22% of respondents said that HR is adapting to the changing needs of their workforce, and only 20% feel that HR can adequately plan for the company’s future talent needs. It also predicted that 60% of enterprise recruitment technology would be replaced in the next 18 months.”

Handling Suspected Workplace Theft
Nina T. Pirrotti and Joshua R. Goodbaum, The Connecticut Law Tribune: “… even a “guilty” employee may have multiple viable claims against her employer if the employer’s investigation is not conducted properly. This article will help employers avoid some of the potholes they can unwittingly fall into when they drive down the road of employee theft.”

The robots are coming: Beyond Automation
Thomas H. DavenportJulia Kirby, Harvard Business Review : “David Autor, an economist at MIT who closely tracks the effects of automation on labor markets, recently complained that “journalists and expert commentators overstate the extent of machine substitution for human labor and ignore the strong complementarities that increase productivity, raise earnings, and augment demand for skilled labor.” He pointed to the immense challenge of applying machines to any tasks that call for flexibility, judgment, or common sense, and then pushed his point further. “Tasks that cannot be substituted by computerization are generally complemented by it,” he wrote. “This point is as fundamental as it is overlooked.”

When the Boomer Levee Breaks
Susan R. Meisinger, Human Resource Executive Online: Many organizations aren’t doing nearly enough to address the issues of an aging workforce or plan for the consequences when older workers do eventually retire.”

Fire that employee for complaining about wages at your own peril
Michael Haberman, Omega Solutions: ” There are two laws that protect the rights of employees to complain about their wages. The first of these has received a great deal of attention of late. The National Labor Relations Act, Section 7 gives covered employees the right to engage in the “protected concerted activity” of discussing wages, hours and working conditions. As long as two or more employees wish to discuss wages for the purpose of improving wages they are protected from doing so. Firing those employees results in a violation of the NLRA that may result in reinstatement and back pay for the fired employees and may get the company some unwanted attention from a union.
However, not all employees are covered by the NLRA. Management employees, supervisors and HR employees are not covered by this act and thus don’t have that protection. However, they do have some protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

How American Workers Became Disengaged
Michael Collins, Industry Week: “A Gallup Survey has found yet again that the most engaged work teams “have significantly higher productivity, profitability and customer ratings; less turnover and absenteeism; and fewer safety incidents than those in the bottom 25%.”
However, the research organization pegs the cost of disengaged employees in the U.S. at $450 billion to $550 billion.”

Selecting a Personality Assessment Tool May be Hazardous to Your Organization
Brad Wolff, TLNT : “Use an assessment tool that asks questions based on “Likert Scales.” This presents statements describing behaviors or beliefs rather than adjective descriptions. Thus, they are much more difficult to manipulate.
“Likert Scales” also allow a wider range of choices in describing characteristics to avoid forcing people into choices that are not accurate. For example, “You like to work with caution” is the behavior or belief described and the choices available are Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Somewhat Disagree or Strongly Disagree.”

Bad Attitude: Cynical Employees Earn Less Than Others
Insurance Journal: “While previous research has associated cynicism with detrimental outcomes across a wide range of spheres of life, including physical health, psychological well-being and marital adjustment, the present research has established an association between cynicism and individual economic success,” says Olga Stavrova, PhD, a research associate at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Germany, and lead author on the study which appears in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.”

Warning: We Can’t Afford to Ignore Benzo Abuse
Matt Berry, Rehabs.com : “Benzodiazepines like Xanax, Klonopin, Valium and Ativan are prescribed for conditions that include anxiety and insomnia; when taken as directed, they’re generally safe. However, recent studies show a sharp increase in benzodiazepine abuse, which often leads to treatment, hospitalization or fatal consequences.
Related Rise in Heroin Use Among Whites Who Abuse Painkillers

The Mechanics of Preventing Procrastination
Olga Khazan, The Atlantic : “A new study finds that thinking about far-off events in terms of days, rather than years, makes people get started sooner.
Procrastination is, in essence, stealing from yourself. The reason goals are so hard to reach, many psychologists think, is because each person believes they are really two people: Present Me and Future Me. And to most people, Future Me is much less important than Present Me. Present Me is the CEO of Me Corp, while Future Me is a lowly clerk.”

How to Lead as a Mentor
Aubrey Daniels, Training : “Leaders who see their job as helping employees be successful (mentoring) create a competent, confident workforce that is engaged, happy, and productive—and results are sure to follow. ”

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