First Comment

Last week we talked about Investopedia as a great resource for getting definitions for financial terms. Well Investopedia runs Financial Edge which has some great advice that can be applied to HR

The first today talks about 5 jobs with mandatory overtime. If your employees don't want to have to work nights or weekends, they may want to stay away from becoming an EMT, construction worker, IT professional, warehouse employee or investment banker. If they didn't know that they would have to working outside of the 9-5 schedule for these jobs, they probably weren't paying attention when they signed up for the job.

When an employee comes to you asking for a promotion, you can spout off these 5 reasons why they don't want that promotion. As Spiderman says: "with great power comes great responsibility." Always remind your employees that.

Lastly, we have an article about 6 industries hurt by the NFL lockout. Steroids manufacturers did not make that list, but television, video games, and sporting goods are among the industries that may have to worry about their workforce if the NFL workforce is kept locked out.

Have a great Wednesday!

A lot of office places are grappling with the pros and cons of allowing their employees to telecommute. In this age where cost-cutting is a premium, minimizing used office space and allowing employees the flexibility of working from home seems to be growing in popularity. But with it comes pitfalls such as chance of lost productivity, a lack of oversight, and decreased amount of teamwork and camaraderie, among other negatives.

FINS has the 5 worst and best things about telecommuting from an employees side. The last negative is one to warn employees about if the option is given to them: "It could totally backfire. We hope it doesn't, really, but it's hard to know how you'll do working at home until you make a real commitment to it. Spending all day at home could leave you feeling cooped up, it can create tensions in your family life, especially if there's not a well-thought-out system in place, and you could find yourself really overwhelmed, or really bored."

If you allow co-workers to work remotely and issue them a smartphone, beware of the legal implications of overtime having to be issued to those workers as Workforce Management writes. The article cites one case from the Chicago Police Department but warns that it is "one of a handful nationwide in which employees have claimed overtime pay for smart-phone use—and apparently the first involving public employees. But lawyers say such cases are a clear warning to employers to put a smart-phone usage policy in place before they end up in potentially costly litigation."

And lastly, if you plan to have your employees work in the office or out of it, Monster.com has some tips for successful meetings (H/T Wendy). Warding off the "meeting vampires" is the key to making sure that meetings are effective and efficient.

Great post from The New York Times Freakonomics Blog (and a true, but funny ending as well):
One of the jobs on the list as Steven Levitt points out? Human resources recruiter! So there may be money in your job, yet.

Other great Freakonomics posts for HR to read:

• Italian workers who were able to trade overtime
• A look at what has happened to wages in the past 3,000 years.
• Levitt tries to determine the economic value of popularity
• If you give your employees a raise, will they start watching TV in the bathroom?
• Levitt reviews Michael Lewis' NFL book Blind Side and salaries in the NFL
  

Enjoy!