Employee Relations

These posts focus on workplace employee relations as part of business leadership and management. Information and tips on employee relations for HR.

HOW TO: Start a Tough Conversation at Work

January 22, 2012

One of the questions I’m often asked is how to start a difficult or challenging conversation.  It might be a sensitive topic, performance matter or personal issue.  In my experience, managers often want to either: Tap dance around the topic with “small talk” – conversation about football, movies, pets, etc. and then launch into the [...]

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Ask HR Bartender: Managing Work and Home Demands

January 18, 2012

One of the never-ending discussions of working people deals with how to manage our work and home lives.  There are so many different conversations about how to deal with it:  implementing a results only work environment (ROWE), meshing personal and professional and dealing with it singularly, or declaring the whole concept of work life balance [...]

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It’s Okay Not Being a Team Player

January 12, 2012

We’ve all heard the statement a thousand times: There’s no “I” in “team”. Companies have made millions printing teamwork clichés on coffee mugs.  Sometimes it feels like there’s an unspoken rule that everything must be a team effort.  Teamwork is better than individual work.  If a person says “I did” or “I said”, they’re immediately [...]

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Ask HR Bartender: Losing Your Driver’s License Can Impact Your Career

January 5, 2012

Okay people, while the name of this blog relates to bartending, one subject I take very seriously is drinking.  As an HR pro, we often have to deal with the subject of serving alcoholic beverages at company events and handling situations when employees have one too many.  It’s important to handle these types of situations [...]

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The Best of HRB – 2011 Edition

January 2, 2012

Happy 2012!  Mr. Bartender and I wish you and yours a healthy, wealthy and fabulous year.  Thank you for reading HR Bartender.  I really appreciate it. Like many people, I spent some time last week getting myself organized for the New Year.  Part of that included looking over the analytics for the blog.  I found [...]

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5 Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas For Your Business Friends

December 18, 2011

The holiday season is here which means trying to figure out the perfect gift for your clients/coworkers/etc. Gift giving is an art form.  And, something at which a lot of people do not excel.  Mostly because people don’t take time to think about the person they’re buying for. Obviously, gifts are easier when you know [...]

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Ask HR Bartender: Improving Feedback Mechanisms

December 4, 2011

Today’s question is from a reader looking to improve employee feedback: Hello.  I want to know what can be done to improve the feedback system in our company so opinions and suggestions are valued and are attended to appropriately. New employees feel shy to open up and speak out the areas of problem and conflict.  [...]

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