With the recent tragic events at the Navy Yard in Washington DC, many organizational leadership teams have begun the unnerving conversations on ways to keep their most valuable assets safe in the workplace. Unfortunately, those talks are no longer about how to prevent slip and fall accidents, or even fire safety. In coming to terms with the world in which we live, a reality has to be faced, and those conversations are now strongly focused on saving lives in the event of a gun toting disgruntled employee or a complete stranger’s ambush.

There may be various reasons why organizations update or create a formalized severance plan. When referring to a severance plan, we mean a payment provided to an employee, or a group of employees, that are involuntarily terminated due to a reduction in force/downsizing, change in company direction, job elimination, or termination due to unsatisfactory performance. Typically, the top five reasons for creating or updating a severance policy are:

Needless to say, it can be difficult to fully understand all of the talk about Healthcare Reform and the regulations that are coming out of it. As an employer, you've probably found yourself asking "what are my benefits options?" If you've found yourself asking this question, you may want to consider administering your employer benefits through a private exchange.

Let's face it, during the months of September through February, football is on nearly everyone’s mind around the office. Employees are talking about their favorite football teams, how the teams rank against one another, their Fantasy Leagues, and the scores from Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night’s games. Sounding familiar?

It’s that time of year again. No, I don’t mean playing catch up on your work while you were out on vacation or figuring out your upcoming Halloween costume. (Can I still get away with being Superman?!?!) It’s Fantasy Football time! Perhaps you participate in a Fantasy sports team in your private life, but have you thought about participating or creating a fantasy team at work? Your department, organization and community may be better off if you do.

Over the course of my career in Human Resources, I have had the displeasure of terminating the employment of a number of employees. In other words: I have fired people. I have processed what is known as a Reduction-in-Force (RIF); conducted a group lay-off and have ended the employment of individuals who knowingly broke a policy or acted in such an egregious manner they had started to pack up their offices before I had ever walked in the room. While these types of terminations are a bit more obvious; on occasion, there have been terminations that were not quite as black and white.