Human Resources

Studies by the state’s Office of the Legislative Auditor show that approximately one of every seven Minnesota employers has misclassified at least one employee as an independent contractor.

Is your company one of them?

If you missed the New Year’s resolution window to implement a wellness plan at your company, you can still get something started in time for Workplace Wellness Week, which takes place April 1^st through April 7^th this year.

As you draft an announcement stating that your company’s two-year-long pay freeze will continue through the second quarter, the vision of an angry mob halts you mid-sentence.

When a new hire backed out even before starting work, Jennifer, an HR professional at a St. Paul printing company, went straight to the source.

Though the number of aging U.S. workers continues to rise, older employees have had a smaller-than-expected effect on workers' compensation loss costs, according to a January 4 report released by Florida-based company, NCCI Holdings, Inc.

Your Executive Assistant, Sharon, leaves voluntarily, and suddenly the company is missing $28,000.

But you can’t yell “Thief!” and you can’t call the police – because that $28,000 you lost is simply the cost of Sharon’s departure.*

To an employee, a performance evaluation is a pretty big deal —after all, it only happens once or twice a year.

But to the manager or supervisor who is giving these interviews to entire groups of employees, it can be easy to “lose form” – and make mistakes that drastically impact the quality of the review.

When used properly, overtime can be an effective way to conquer workload demands while keeping employees satisfied. When misused, however, important factors like morale and productivity can be seriously compromised.

Risk #1: An overtime-dependent workforce. We’ve all heard a story about someone who works overtime for an extended period of time: Once the heavy workload is gone, so is all the extra cashflow they had grown to rely on. When this happens, employees can feel like the additional income has been “taken” from them. They become dissatisfied with their job – and might even start looking for a new one.

With unemployment still plaguing our workforce, many people are finding themselves moving sideways or backwards in the positions they take.

If you’re having a hard time finding qualified technicians, trade workers, or administrative staff, you’re not alone.

ManpowerGroup’s recent Talent Shortage Surveylists those positions as some of the hardest to fill so far this year, along with:

• Sales Representatives
• Engineers
• Drivers
• Production Operators
• Laborers
• Accounting & Finance Staff
• Management/Executives

See a trend?