At some point or another while running your business, you unfortunately will likely need to let someone go, also referred to as a separation or termination of employment. Typically, businesses run into these reasons because either they are cutting costs or have someone performing poorly at their job. Majority of states across the nation, are at-will, meaning they have the right to separate employment at any time. However there are some caveats, therefore your Human Resources team should always keep detailed records to justify the decision to ensure that employee’s rights are not violated and to ensure all federal and state laws are followed during the process.

As a consultant, I am often asked by my clients, “How can I identify employee relations tension before it becomes a company-wide endemic?" Why am I asked this so often? Because employee relations are difficult to assess...

The Cultural Problems of Reclassifying Exempt Employees to Non-Exempt under FLSA In June 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a key change to the provisions for determining exemption from overtime by raising the minimum standard level for salaried workers from $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $970 per week ($50,440 annually). While the rule is not yet final and is not expected to be in place until 2016, organizations all over the US are preparing for the impact, both financially and culturally. Many times the latter is overlooked.

We’ve all been there... You filled out your annual self-evaluation. Your manager reviewed it. Your manager reviewed your performance and sent their review and your self-review to your second level manager for review and approval. You have a meeting with your manager to review the appraisal. You sign off on the appraisal. Your manager signs off on your sign off. Your second level manager signs off and finalizes the appraisal.

Defining “work-life balance” is difficult. Eventually, as you stay committed to finding what works for your organization, the definition becomes less nebulous. At Helios HR, our definition centers around integration instead of balance. When we first start, we work with our mentors and team leads to determine what works for us: when to answer immediately, when to allow the email to sit until morning, and when to leave the phone altogether.

Human capital is your most important asset. A lot of organizations talk about this in executive speeches, marketing materials and advertisements. If you are one of these organizations, what are doing to support this statement?