Over the years I’ve worked with a range of companies in various industries and I’ve found that managing the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a common challenge. The FMLA provision was implemented in 1993 as a means to allow eligible employees to have job protection while taking care of medical needs for themselves or eligible family members. The concept of FMLA was great, in the sense that employees could take off the time they needed to get well, return to work, and not worry about being fired or terminated while out. However, over time, there have been lots of concerns regarding loopholes that are being taken advantage of by employees.

Thank your employees, or coworkers, 365 days a year. It seems like a simple thing to do. Find something - anything - one of your direct reports or coworkers has does well on the job and compliment them about it. After informally polling a random sampling of friends, coworkers and family members, I was not surprised to find the vast majority of people answered affirmatively that they do not do this. The most common response back to my informal poll was, “I don’t compliment my coworkers 365 days a year, but I try to do this as often as possible.” While this is a good start, and with the impending holiday season is upon us, it got me thinking: how can we all thank the people we work for, and with, every single day of the year?

Every day I hear the terms “manager” and “leader” used interchangeably. However, when you really start to explore what it means to be a leader, you will find that there are distinct and important differences between the two titles. While a manager can be a leader, the two terms are not mutually exclusive.

In the last several years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of employees requesting the ability to telecommute. Given the technological advances that have occurred to promote web-based collaboration in the workplace, it seems that telecommuting is quickly becoming seen as a standard to the current workforce. Telecommuting is defined as a working arrangement in which employees are able to work from a location other than the normal worksite and utilize technology to complete their work and communicate with co-workers, customers, and managers. Stepping into the world of telecommuting can be intimidating for an organization. You may find yourself asking how you even begin to transition into the telecommuting world. Consider the following when determining the parameters around your potential telecommuting program.

What happened to 2013? I cannot believe it is already November! Before we know it everyone will be hosting their holiday parties and we will be watching the ball drop and welcoming in the New Year!

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with our founder, President and CEO of Helios HR, Kathy Albarado to pick her brain on leadership. As Kathy’s passion is working with enlightened leaders to build a culture that attracts, retains and engages exceptional people, I wanted to find out what leadership means to her and how she believes others can become great leaders. Read the full interview below!