Estimated reading time: 8 minutes Just in case you missed it, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule in April banning noncompete agreements nationwide. The rationale behind this Rule is to ensure that workers have the freedom to pursue new opportunities, start a new business, or create a new product / service.  That being said, I’m sure employers have questions … lots of questions. So, I reached out to our friends at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney to see if they would share their knowledge with us. And thankfully, they said yes.  Carrie Amezcua i ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 70% of new opportunities are found via networking. This is why employee referral programs are a strong recruiting source. Many companies post open positions internally before going to the outside, turning to the power of their existing workforce’s networks.  Even if you’re not looking for a new opportunity, building professional relationships through networking is still a valuable activity. Networking can help us build confidence, boost our communication skills, market ourselves or our busines ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Recently, I received a reader note asking for some resources to help someone improve their writing skills. Specifically, they wanted to help someone write better emails. As I was thinking about a reply, it occurred to me that writing emails is one of those things that we expect everyone to know how to do but there’s really no book or training manual around.  Many years ago, I worked for a company that had an internal writing guide. It’s the only organization I’ve ever seen with one. It outlined how to communicate in writing to both internal and ..read more

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes (Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at DDI, a global leadership firm that helps organizations hire, promote, and develop exceptional leaders. They were recently named to the Forbes America’s Best Employers 2024 list.  Congrats to them and enjoy the read!) I recently published an article on how to create effective organizational change through leadership development. The article focused on everyday changes we face like when team members change, or when we experience changes in our scope of work. Changes lik ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes Recently, Dell made news headlines by saying that remote employees can stay remote but they’re not going to be considered for promotional opportunities. I’m not here today to talk about whether this is the right decision. I’d like to think that Dell has done their homework and understands the potential consequences. But the article did remind me that organizations need to tell employees what it takes to get promoted.  Often when a new employee arrives, we’re so focused on training them for the job they were just hired for that we don’t think about w ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes A few weeks ago, I asked for your thoughts on the concept of holacracy. Just as a quick refresher, holacracy promotes flatter organizational hierarchies, distributed decision-making, and more self-management. You can see what readers said in the chart above. First of all, I must admit that I was surprised at the low number of responses for this poll. My initial reaction was that obviously people don’t care about holacracy because there weren’t a lot of responses. But after staring at the results for a while, I couldn’t help but wonder if there’s something els ..read more

(Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture cloud solutions. Newsweek named UKG for the second consecutive year to their Greatest Workplaces for Women. Congrats to them and enjoy the article!) I belong to a couple of online human resources groups. I’m sure you do too. One of the questions I’ve noticed coming up a lot lately in these groups is where human resources professionals can find free, quality professional development programs. Today’s article answers that question.  Th ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Last year, I wrote an article about how “Quitting is Not a Sign of Failure”. I hope you’ll check it out when you have a moment. It’s okay to quit and it’s okay to fail at something. Today I want to talk about something related to quitting and failure. It’s when we set a goal and don’t accomplish it.  This applies to both individuals and organizations. Companies set goals all the time – revenue goals, quality goals, etc. Sometimes they meet those goals and sometimes they don’t. Same for us as individuals. We set goals to get a certification or maybe write ..read more

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes Years ago, I worked for a company that was obsessed with productivity. Every month, the corporate offices would produce a report listing each location and their productivity scores. The person who produced this report – let’s call him Mr. Lumbergh – would put a line in the report. Eventually, it became known as the “Lumbergh Line”. The locations above the line were considered to have good productivity and the locations below, well, weren’t.  Today’s reader note touches on an important aspect of productivity – managing time.  Is it appropriate for a ..read more

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes (Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at HRdirect, a trusted source for employee-related compliance, administration, and motivation tools. They serve as a one-stop shop to make employee management easier. Enjoy the read!) I recently published an article about the importance of having a labor law posting strategy. In it, Lillian Chavez, Esq., managing legal research attorney at ComplyRight mentioned that there are on average more than 200 mandatory federal, state, city, and/or county posting changes each year. And with each ..read more