How to Support a Grieving Employee

Everyone experiences grief at some point in their life and yet for being such a common experience, it’s also one that few of us are fully equipped to navigate. In part, this is because grief is such an overwhelming and horrible experience. Nothing can prepare you for...

How to Improve Your Job Postings

A job posting is often the first impression a prospective job applicant has with your organization. It’s important for that impression to be an informative one. Your job postings should convey why someone would want to work for your company, what distinguishes your...

One of my employees has requested time off to vote. My state doesn’t require voting leave, but this employee works in a different state and we have employees located across the country. What do I need to do here?

Answer from Kyle, PHR: If an employee of yours works in a state with a voting leave law, you will need to comply with that law. Most states require that employers provide at least a few hours to vote, and many of those states require some or all of that time to be...

We recently hired an older individual whose start date is next Monday, but I would like to push back their start date because we’ve just had an employee test positive for COVID-19. Would this be allowed? We will be testing everyone in the workplace, but I know older employees may be at higher risk.

Answer from Daniel, SHRM-CP: You will need to tread carefully here. Pushing back an employee’s start date because of their age would be a clear case of age discrimination, even if you’re operating with the best of intentions. Age discrimination is illegal under the...

We’ve had a lot of turnover since the pandemic started and are thinking about doing exit interviews to see if we can find out why. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer from Sarah, PHR, SHRM-CP: Exit interviews can be a very useful tool — if you’re prepared to act on what you learn — so it’s great that you’re thinking about using them. I’ll cover some basics. Exit interviews typically use one of two formats: an in-person...

Business has slowed and we’re cutting back the hours of some employees. Do I need to reclassify them as part-time if they’re working fewer than 40 hours per week?

Answer from Laura, SHRM-CP: Not necessarily. It’s up to you to decide how many hours employees need to work in a week to be considered full-time. While we generally recommend that you abide by the standards you’ve set previously so that you’re enforcing your...