“Are you planning on getting pregnant in the next two years?” is a question best left to physicians, and definitely not hiring managers or mothers-in-law. While the question isn’t, technically, illegal in the United States, it can definitely lead towards illegal discrimination if you ask it. (Asking questions about
We love to use business jargon, even though 88 percent of Americans have only pretended to understand jargon spouted by a co-worker. However, apparently, we don’t use the same jargon in every state. Textio looked through over a million job postings and pulled out the jargon most popular in each state.
A couple of weeks ago, a reporter was denied entry into the “Speaker’s Lobby” for wearing a sleeveless blouse. This is an ornate area with a stricter dress code than the rest of the Capitol. The Hill said that there has been an influx of new reporters who were not aware of
I’m an American who lives in Europe—Switzerland to be exact, and I’m home for a visit. I love Europe and I love America, but both could use a bit of infusion from the other to make things better off. (And when I say Europe, I want to acknowledge
Americans love to telecommute. 34 percent of Americans work at least 4 days a week from home. Only 4 percent of Japanese work from home at least one day per week. The Japanese government wants this to change. Why? Two big reasons: To increase productivity and to prepare for
Does your company have a bunch of “affinity” groups? For instance, a women’s group, a gay group, or an African American group? Lots of companies do. The idea is that if you bring people who share characteristics together they can help each other succeed. Bloomsberg Businessweek reports that Deloitte is moving
Businesses in Maine that operate in the summer tourism industry have a problem: Not enough visas available to hire their summer staffs. So, horror of horrors, they are having to (gasp!) do things like increase salary, and changing schedules to attract local talent. Makes me want to cry
In a free market, the company with the most to offer an employee gets the best employees. That’s fair. Idaho just made it one of the hardest places to attract new talent. Why? Non-compete agreements. A non-compete agreement limits what someone can do after they leave a job. Traditionally used
Some people travel to see sights. I travel to eat. And, since there is only a limited amount of meals you can eat on any given trip, if you want to make the most of those, you use online tools to help you find restaurants. TripAdvisor is my favorite but sometimes the
I received the following email from a reader: All of our employees (exempt & non-exempt) receive vacation time. We have an issue with how some of our exempt employees report their vacation hours. If they answer (literally) an email or a phone call while on vacation, they consider
