40 percent of workers would forgo a wage increase to keep their current health coverage    Five years after it became law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to generate debate. One aspect of the law is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, and many organizations are still weighing the act’s potential impact on health care expenses for their employees. Most research has shown that employers have no plans to eliminate health coverage in the near term. A joint survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) from...

This book has been Approved for Recertification Credit. After reading this approved book, you must complete a quiz on SHRM’s E-Learning platform. When you purchase this book from the SHRMStore, you will receive a code that you can use to cover the cost of the quiz. Receive a 70% or better score on the quiz and you will then receive a certificate of completion with the program ID that entitles you to 3.0 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CREDITS for SHRM Certification and 2.5 GENERAL credit hours for HRCI. Use the corresponding Program IDs to log your credits. For a complete list of the...

  We’re saturated. We’ve overwhelmed. The technology that was created to make our lives easier also generates more work. It has also given rise to new channels of communication that have further divided our attention—at the office and at home. Thanks to smartphones, "work/life balance" now means you can take your work with you wherever you go—including on vacation. There’s too much information, too many assignments, too many meetings and conference calls. We’re always on and live in a 24/7 workplace. In his blog...

    A few years ago I was at a seminar where the speaker highlighted some of the worst things he heard over the course of his extensive career as a business consultant.  I got my popcorn ready because I figured some salacious stories were coming my way.  Instead I learned more about failed accountability than you can ever imagine.  I took the stories shared by Dale Henry (the speaker) and reflected upon the catchphrases I hear all the time.  Dale had two that stood out—"It’s not my job" and "It’s not personal, it’s business."  He highlighted these as two...

  Later this month I have the privilege of being one of the MCs for SHRM’s 2015 Talent Management Conference. Every year I look forward to this conference - to meeting recruiters and HR professionals from around the U.S. and the world - who are responsible for their company’s greatest asset - their people. Being a reformed recruiter, I love the energy and enthusiasm that these folks bring to this event. So here are the top three things that I am most looking forward to when I head to San...

On April 8, @shrmnextchat chatted with jobFig CEO Ravi Mikkelsen (@RaviMikkelsen) about "Our Overwhelmed Workforce." In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from this interesting chat:   [View the story "#Nextchat RECAP: Our Overwhelmed Workforce" on Storify]  ...

  I work as a part of a remote team. While the employees I support are all based in Chicago and Minneapolis, my boss and colleagues are spread throughout the country. We have set team calls every week and we talk almost every day, whether through email, text, video chat or good old fashion telephone. All of these forms of communication are great in keeping us informed and help in our continual relationship building, but nothing replaces the level of productivity we are able to achieve when we are together. If you manage a remote team, make every effort you...

  Welcome to the dog-eat-dog world of recruiting: a place where employers meet for battle in the talent pools to find the best candidates to join their staff. Okay, maybe recruiting isn’t that dramatic, but shouldn’t it be? National unemployment rates soared during the economic recession aftermath, so many educated and experience employees found themselves out of work and desperate for a job. Therefore, employers had an abundance of talent to choose from for their open positions. Today, national unemployment rates paint a different picture.  Employers...

Dad died June 25, 2012. This morning, I miss him. Dad was a dairy farmer from Maine. He didn’t need applause for taking care of his wife and children. He humbly got the job done, day after day. He read books and took courses all his life, but never flaunted what he knew. Even when he knew more than me, which was most of the time, he asked questions and listened. Love for learning lives in my bones because of dad. 12 ways to be humble: Ask questions. After falling short, get...

  "Workflex and manufacturing don’t mix," is a comment I constantly hear from manufacturers during my travels across the country promoting When Work Works, the joint project of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Families and Work Institute (FWI). The project explores ways to reinvent work and create more effective and flexible workplaces — or workflex for short — and my job is to get the message out about how to make workflex work. From Hawaii to Maine, no matter...