One Human Resources Professionals’ Inside Look at Lobbying for HR

April 6, 2011 By amyletke 1 Comment

“I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a Congress. And, by God, I have hadthis Congress!” -John Adams, from the musical “1776” I recently had the opportunity to visit our elected officials in Washington, DC as part of the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Employment Law and Legislative Conference. This conference is held every year in our nation’s capital and gives Human Resources Professionals like me the opportunity to educate our congressional leaders and members of their staff how various pieces of legislation impact the workplace. I have been a human resources professional for a long time and have many fond memories. One such memory occurred shortly after 9/11 when I had to meet with then Senator Jim Bunning in a temporary office in The Capitol … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Human Resource Professionals Tagged With: hr politics, human resources professional, human resources washington, washington

Death by Numbers: How Financial Intelligence Can Prevent the Slow, Painful Death of a Human Resources Career

March 2, 2010 By amyletke Leave a Comment

When I was in college, I was under the illusion that I would make it as an accounting major. Then it happened. Late one night, under the light of the desk lamp in my dorm room, I was at a crossroads. Should I continue on my misguided attempt as an accounting major and spend another agonizing hour trying to find the $0.56 that I was off on my worksheet, or should I come to the realization that I am not cut out for this and declare another major? The next day, I went as fast as my legs could carry me to the advising office and promptly declared as an Economics major, and as Robert Frost has so eloquently written, "...that has made all the difference." After graduation, I chose Human Resources as my career of choice, and all was well, until... I never thought I would be back in the painful throes of the accounting nightmare. Yet here I am, making HR decisions based on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Human Resource Professionals Tagged With: financial intelligence louisville, hr consultants, HR consultants louisville, human resource compliance, human resource professionals, Human Resources, human resources louisville, I-9 Form, performance management, policy development louisville, strategic development louisville

Top 9 Recommended New Year’s Resolutions For the HR Professional

January 4, 2010 By amyletke Leave a Comment

You probably have a laundry list of New Year's Resolutions for 2011 at home just waiting to be tackled, but things like - eat better, have more fun, meet more people, get in shape, or whatever your flavor may be, won’t go a long way at helping your company be more successful. So... what New Year's Resolutions did you make for your company in 2011? If you didn’t make any, or if you’d like to add to your list, it’s not too late! It may be a little past the deadline, but if you promise to get them written down now, we won’t tell anyone. Check out these 9 Important New Year's Resolutions for the HR Professional and get a great start on your HR Department’s to-do list for 2011. 1. Make Sure Employees Get Feedback On A Regular Basis Once-a-year evaluations are not enough, and some HR gurus even go so far as to say that yearly reviews alone are worthless. Instead, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Human Resource Professionals, Performance Management Tagged With: Department of Labor, dol, exempt, firing, FLSA, FMLA, non-exempt, performance management

Top 5 Projects For Human Resources Professionals in 2010

December 9, 2009 By amyletke Leave a Comment

As 2009 draws to a close, now is a great time for human resources professionals to reflect upon the accomplishments and initiatives implemented over the past twelve months and begin to plan the human resource projects to undertake in 2010. Below are 5 projects you might want to consider for the New Year: Conduct an HR audit. When is the last time you truly evaluated your human resources processes and procedures? Are you using up-to-date forms that comply with all of the new legislation? Are you unintentionally discriminating against a protected class? The list of questions goes on and on. Having a human resource consulting firm or other objective third party conduct a thorough audit of your department of human resources helps you see what you are doing right, but more importantly, what you need to correct. It might not seem pertinent now, but if the Department of Labor (DOL) … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Human Resource Professionals Tagged With: Department of Labor, employment policies, FLSA, hr consultants, human resource professionals, human resources consulting services, policy development, textual harassment

Become a Human Resources Strategic Player!

September 8, 2009 By amyletke Leave a Comment

Isn't it interesting how the world of human resources has evolved? HR or should I say, Personnel, used to be considered the "party planners" and "paper pushers" of the organization. My, oh, my how the times have changed! The fact of the matter is Human Resource Professionals have to be a virtual "jack-of-all trades." Not only must we have an understanding of areas specific to the industry such as federal, state and local laws, benefits and best practices relating to compensation, safety, recruiting and performance management, HR is just as often the resident psychologist, cheerleader and "bad cop." Although we know this is true, one of the biggest challenges that HR professionals still face today is how to showcase our role as a strategic business partner. I've heard from many different colleagues that their company doesn't respect the HR profession and simply views it as a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Human Resource Professionals Tagged With: hr consultants, human resource professionals, Human Resources, performance management, strategic hr