by Evil HR Lady on November 18, 2019
Uber considers its drivers to be independent contractors. That means they aren’t responsible for things like taxes and unemployment fees for their drivers. California disagreed so strongly that after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that drivers were contractors, they passed a law specifically targeting Uber and similar companies. The goal is to force numerous companies to hire their gig workers as employees.
While the world focused on California’s treatment of Uber drivers as employees, New Jersey quietly audited and decided that yes, Uber drivers (despite the NLRB ruling) were employees. Uber owed back taxes and fines, totaling $649 million.
Uber spokeswoman, Alix Anfang told The New York Times, “We are challenging this preliminary but incorrect determination because drivers are independent contractors in New Jersey and elsewhere.”
New Jersey, of course, disagrees, and this will land in court.
To keep reading, click here: New Jersey to Uber: $649 Million, Please
by Evil HR Lady on November 15, 2019
The United States lags behind European countries when it comes to maternity leave. Federal law only requires 12 weeks of unpaid leave if the mother qualifies. To qualify under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you must:
- Work for a company that has 50 or more employees in a 75 miles radius
- Have worked for a minimum of 1250 hours in the past 12 months
- Worked for at least 12 months for this company (although consecutive work isn’t required)
If you meet all these criteria, then you qualify. But, the company isn’t required to pay you for any of that time off, and neither does the government–but in 2004 California changed that and they looked at the impact of the payment.
California followed 153,000 women who gave birth right before and right after they implemented the paid maternity leave. Women who got paid leave earned an average of $24,000 less over ten years than the women who had unpaid leave.
To keep reading, click here: Study: Women Who Took Paid Maternity Leave Earn Less
by Evil HR Lady on November 14, 2019
Employee Experience. Is there any bigger buzzword today in the world of employee relations? And, apparently, there is a vast need to improve employee experience. You need new systems, programs, meetings, and perhaps to hire someone that can coordinate it all.
But, isn’t that just a fancy word for asking, “Do you like your job?”
We can talk about the experience, and it makes it sound like we need to run amusement parks for your employees. We don’t. Having snacks, a gaming room, and the ever-popular napping pods can make things fun and exciting and may help with recruiting. However, if your managers don’t know how to manage, your vacation policies prevent people from actually using their time off, and you retaliate against people who use FMLA, all the free Cheetos in the world won’t fix that employee experience.
To keep reading click here: Employee Experience – What Does That Really Mean?
by Evil HR Lady on November 13, 2019
Technology has made our lives better. The fact that we have clean water, electricity and I’m writing this while a robot vacuums my living room and torments my cats means that my life is more comfortable and safe than my ancestors’ lives.
But, technology doesn’t make everything better, and there are limits, especially in the area of Human Resources. While HR Tech is always a hot topic of conversation in the Human Resources space and something businesses should be focusing on.
So this year at Unleash World in Paris, I spoke with several HR Tech companies about the problems they are looking to solve. Here’s what they said.
Problem: Employee satisfaction and turnover.
Solution from Klil Nevo, Managing Director of Customer Success at Juno Journey:
Millennials today are looking for personal development as well as career opportunities. We offer a tailor-made career map based on skills and tasks backed with personalized learning that results in prediction for internal mobility and growth in your organization.
To read the rest of the problems and solutions, click here: The Problems HR Tech Will (Hopefully) Solve in 2020
by Evil HR Lady on November 11, 2019
by Evil HR Lady on November 7, 2019
It’s easier to get a new job when you already have a job. We all intuitively know this to be true, but why is that the case?
If you ask recruiters and hiring managers why they don’t hire individuals who are unemployed when they apply for a role, it’s usually because they’re basing their decision on some preconceived notions and biases:
- If you’ve been fired from one job, there must be something wrong with you.
- If you quit without a new job lined up, you must not be a dedicated employee.
- If you stayed at home with your kids, you’ll always be running out the door early.
- If you were out for health reasons, you’ll get sick again.
In reality, most of these reasons are excuses for hiring managers to avoid critically evaluating all applicants and opting instead for the easy route. Ultimately, hiring managers prefer to recruit and hire employed versus unemployed candidates simply because they assume someone else already evaluated them, hired them and values their work enough to keep them.
To keep reading, click here: Don’t Be Afraid to Hire Someone Who is Unemployed
by Evil HR Lady on November 6, 2019
Have you worked with a narcissist? As they go around, leaving havoc in their wake, they seem positively unperturbed at what they’ve done. And new research says this isn’t an act. Some narcissists are happier than those of us who care about others.
There are two types of narcissists, grandiose and vulnerable. The vulnerable narcissists are defensive and hostile. Still, the grandiose narcissists “usually have an over-inflated sense of importance and a preoccupation with status and power,” says Kostas Papergeorgiou, Director of the InteRRaCt Lab in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University, Belfast. He found that people who showed narcissistic traits had increased mental toughness, which resulted in lowered perceived stress and protection against depression.
That over-inflated sense of importance and gives these narcissists a sense of “confidence and goal orientation, protecting against symptoms of depression and perceived stress.”
To keep reading, click here: Study: Your Narcissistic Coworker is Less Stressed and Happier than You Are
by Evil HR Lady on November 5, 2019
I’m a new HR person in a small business of 60 people. I’m posting a job description, and my boss wants me to use the same job posting template and application process the company has used in the past. I reviewed this template, only to find out that it requires applicants to submit their college GPAs and information about where they went to high school. These aren’t entry-level roles. How can I convince my boss that this approach will cause us to lose out on qualified candidates?
To read my answer, click here: How Do I Tell My Boss to Stop Asking for College GPAs?
Leave your own in the comments!
by Evil HR Lady on November 4, 2019
Being an HR influencer, my email box is full of companies pitching their products and, frankly, most are not creative or helpful. But, they’ve somehow got backing and some customers. How do you weed through everything to find what your business needs?
The first thing is asking the right questions. Here are some to begin with:
What problem are you trying to solve? Well, you say, I need an HRIS. Excellent. Why? Because you have employees? Yes. But if you have two employees, you can probably handle everything in an Excel spreadsheet (although, technically, I don’t recommend that because one wrong sort and your data is messed up).
It’s essential to ask this question before you meet with a single vendor. If you don’t, the vendor will tell you what your problem is and, surprise! Their software will solve that. Then you end up with software that may or may not solve your problem, but it solves the vendor’s problems—they made a sale!
To keep reading, click here: Why it’s nearly impossible to pick your business software
by Evil HR Lady on November 4, 2019
McDonald’s fired its president and CEO, Steve Easterbrook. CEOs come and go, but this one is leaving for consensual sex with an employee.
Please note, no one is claiming sexual harassment or coercion. They are reporting a consensual affair, so why the termination?
Because, as Easterbrook said in an email to employees, “This was a mistake. Given the values of the company, I agree with the board that it is time for me to move on.”
I agree. Here’s why.
Power exists, even if everyone consents
As CEO, Easterbrook was the most influential person at McDonald’s. No one was his equal. No peers. No matter how loving and wonderful the relationship was, he still held an excessive amount of power over this unnamed person.
To keep reading, click here: McDonald’s Just Fired Their CEO for Consensual Sex