Missing Work Because of Hurricane Irene

New York City is shutdown. Subways, buses, commuter trains, and many bridges and tunnels are all not open for business. Because of this, many businesses are the same, closing their doors yesterday and today in anticipation of the storm so they can get their employees back to their families. But some businesses will stay open today and tomorrow and according to Employment Matters, their employees are therefore responsible to come in:

If you decide to stay open for business, whether on Sunday when New York and Massachusetts expect Hurricane Irene (or some other significant tropical storm) to hit, and/or on Monday, when most will be surveying the damage, you may lawfully deduct a full-day’s absence from the salary of any exempt employee for each day he or she chooses not to show up to work, even if the conditions make it physically impossible to come in. However, if the employee works for some of the day, then you cannot make any deduction to his or her salary for that day. At the same time, if you have the appropriate leave policy in place, you can require your employees to utilize their paid vacation or other leave to account for the absence from work. 

But if you decide to close?

Astronology - New Approaches for Annual Pay Raises

Astronology Volume XII Issue 11 August 23, 2011 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction? The word Karaoke is a loanword from Japan. FACT!   The work Karaoke is a Japanese word literally meaning Empty Orchestra.  Grab your mic and sing your heart out without an orchestra!   Has your organization held a Karaoke event as a fun team-building activity or reward for a job well done?  We'd love to hear your story - and about your favorite Karaoke songs!      New Approaches for Annual Pay Raises Although the economy is somewhat better, for some organizations and small businesses the idea of providing a low or no pay raise is a daunting one. Organizations are caught between trying to keep their best employees and the fact that the organization may not be able to give employees exactly what they would like to. What are some low cost solutions to this broad issue?.... more     Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2011, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

 

When Sports and HR Meet

I read a lot of articles about sports and I'm always interested when sports and human resources meet. Well that happened today as I was reading a baseball notebook in the Boston Globe:

"Jim Crane, prospective Astros buyer - Major league owners are wading through a lot of personal stuff on Crane before approving him. And he has some baggage, including complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because of his position on hiring blacks, Hispanics, and women. He paid $9 million in damages to workers at his Eagle USA Airfreight company in part over remarks he made to an associate to the effect that you should never hire blacks because you can’t fire them. He was also involved in a very messy divorce. So this is not a slam dunk."

The gory details can be found in this 2000 piece from the Houston Chronicle. That's not even it on Crane as Forbes continues, describing breaches of fiduciary agreements and profiteering from the war in Iraq (!?!).

People like Crane are why Major League Baseball and other organizations should vet their executives and other potential employees before hiring them. It actually seems like Crane will be allowed to buy the Astros despite all of this turmoil surrounding his name--but the problem is that once he's in, you can't fire him because he actually is an owner. That may be the biggest issue of all for Major League Baseball should some of the issues re-arise.

Revisiting An Old Story

Back in October of 2009, we linked to a New York Times article about twin girls who were struggling to make it in a tough New York job world. It was an interesting article and I commented at the time that it wasn't unlike stories of people that I knew...

...well--funny story--it ends up I do know the twins. We play in the same softball league together. Last night, while celebrating my softball championship win (woo!) with some members of the other team, one of our team members heard the story about these same twin girls who got written about in the New York Times.

And we got an update on the status of the twins: they now both write for ESPN.com about alternative sports. So while the job market is bad--and really bad for those in that 21-29 range trying to find traction in their post-college years--it sometimes perks up and people who seemed lost in the recession find jobs.

Astronology - 6 Months on Capitol Hill

Astronology Volume XII Issue 10 August 9, 2011 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction? Capitol Hill contains a tomb where our first president, George Washington, is buried.   Fiction!   Although there is a tomb area in the US Capitol, our first president was not buried there.  His will expressed his desire to be buried at his home, Mount Vernon.    6 Months on Capitol Hill Every year Astronology examines legislation coming from Capitol Hill, and how these changes influence Human Resource practices. Two major developments in the first half of 2011 affecting Human Resources are the possible adjustments to Healthcare reform, such as the CLASS Act, and the Legal Workforce Act of 2011.  What challenges should we expect as a result of these pieces of legislation?.... more     Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2011, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

An Odd Way to Increase Productivity

It's not often that we find an article for this blog from Gawker, but we were forwarded this article with the title "Your Angry, Sarcastic Boss Is Actually Helping Your Productivity". I had to say I was at least a little bit intrigued.

Well the article wasn't exactly by Gawker, it was quoting an interesting article in the Journal of Applied Psychology. It showed that people who were exposed to anger and sarcasm worked harder and smarter than people in a neutral environment:

"The test was done with engineering students who all listened to an interaction between a customer and a customer service rep. Those who listened to the calls where the customer was angry ended up working harder and faster on a subsequent problem than their peers who listened to a nice call. Those who listened to a sarcastic interaction worked as hard and quickly as those exposed to anger, but also had more accurate and creative results."

It's an interesting conclusion, but there are not many lessons that can be learned here. You don't want your managers being angry or sarcastic--even if it does help productivity. One thing it does prove though, is that just because a group is productive, it doesn't mean their manager isn't a jerk to work for.