Library
June 26, 2017
Peter Drucker identified a shift in work from muscle to mind in the late 1950’s which led to the term knowledge worker. Many knowledge workers stay after work, arrive early or work at home to find time to think about what needs to be done, or give a project the deep thought it requires. One reason people are working outside of work hours is work hours are consumed by meetings. Meetings are necessary and effective when well run. Even when meetings are well run, too many or poorly timed meetings result in wasted time. In a typical meeting, three people […]
May 24, 2017
Working in an environment with competing objectives under tight deadlines and fear of punishment is a too common description of work today. A few high stress occupations are challenging whether the results of job stress (i.e. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) qualifies as Worker’s Compensation claims. The British Medical Journal linked job stress to cardio-vascular disease in 2002; American studies recently validated this information. Chronic stress increases cortisol which creates inflammation and is linked to disease. Previously blaming the person’s reaction to stress (i.e. the Type A personality), now findings reveal organizations can make changes to reduce stress. An individual’s response to […]
April 24, 2017
Last May, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final rule that improves tracking of workplace injuries. The first deadline to electronically submit your 2016 Form 300A is July 1, 2017. The rule does not change any forms that must be submitted manually. Employers with locations of 250 or more employees and those with at least 20 employees in high risk industries must comply. The term “high risk” is broad. Examples of high risk industries include grocery stores, direct selling establishments, museums as well as medical hospitals and manufacturing. OSHA provides a list of high risk industries by […]
March 27, 2017
Until recently, misconduct investigations used the good faith standard. Before the Vasquez case, employers were required to act in good faith before taking adverse action against an employee. The Andrea Vasquez v. Empress Ambulance Services, Inc. case raised the standard for employment investigations. This 2nd U.S. Circuit Court ruling expands the Supreme Court decision in the Vincent E. Staub v. Proctor Hospital. The Staub case revitalized the “Cat’s Paw” fable. In Aesop’s fable, a clever monkey, not acting in good faith convinced the cat to pull roasting chestnuts from the fire. The monkey ate all the chestnuts while the cat […]