Dear HR Lady:  Why should I encourage my organization’s leadership to model ethical and professional behavior? Foul language and a lousy temperament have become accepted behavior in most walks of life. Many staff members exhibit inappropriate behaviors and language that have nothing to do with getting the job done. Is it essential to change their […]

Oh, what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive. Thanks, Shakespeare, for making Sir Walter Scott’s idiom so famous. When an applicant lies or acts dishonestly, they initiate problems and a domino structure of complications that run out of control, and they get caught. Karma. Here are tips for looking […]

DEAR HR LADY: We are back in our office, and I have an exempt/salaried manager I hired during Covid who is chronically late, takes way too long on personal appointments, talks—not texts—on their cell phone in meetings, does not use spellcheck, and is just plain oblivious to appropriate office behavior. What can I do? Did […]

For the summer, I am changing things up. We all need a change of pace. DEAR HR LADY: I am uncertain whether a bonus will allow me to keep my good hourly/non-exempt employees. Will it motivate my employees to work harder and smarter as well? What legal hurdles do I need to be aware of […]

Building a better team by utilizing your employees’ modes of conflict. What? In May, I wrote about successful and efficient meeting leading. This month let us review building successful teams. First, you must hire a good team. Then you need to know how each new hire gets their job done while interacting with your internal […]

Mastering running an efficient meeting is a necessary skill for leaders. Most attendees do not like meetings because meetings take time away from doing their jobs, and the organization risks losing some of their bottom lines because of the time away from performing the essential functions of positions. Due to Covid and beyond, meetings have […]

“Always do right. This will gratify some and astonish the rest.”      —Mark Twain What about the 2021 Texas Legislature and your employees? As of February 1, 2021, more than 45 bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature addressing employers and employees’ requirements. There are still no bills relating to non-competition or non-solicitation agreements […]

Those rascals are moving to Texas. How will that affect the way Texas does business, or will it? I want to start where I left off last month with the prospect of mergers and acquisitions and significant businesses moving to Texas to operate in a state more friendly to business expansion. To revisit layoffs, let’s […]

This month, I am highlighting the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN Act). If your company staffs fewer than 100 employees, this law does not apply to you, but just the same it is better to treat your employees well when you sell your company, or when you furlough or lay off […]

The New Year that is 2021 can bring with it your opportunity to improve your employees’ performance, improve your bottom line, and improve the tone of your ongoing discourse. You can achieve all of these with well-administered Performance Evaluations. Most of us have just a little more than some respect for West Texas native Matthew […]