nora akins

March 1, 2010

Pulling The Trigger

Homicide is the second leading cause of death in the workplace; the leading cause of occupational injury death among females and workers under 18 years old. However, men are three times more likely to be killed by workplace violence than women. Indiana is ready to pull the trigger on legislation that will allow employees to bring guns to work, as long as the guns remain in locked vehicles. Firearms are involved in 76% of workplace homicides, followed by cutting or piercing instruments. Proponents of this legislation argue that the majority of workplace homicides are robbery related crimes (71%) with only […]
February 1, 2010

Warning: Web 2.0

Web 2.0 applies to web applications that allow users to interact and change website content. It is an ongoing work, where everyone can contribute; it’s fast, used for reference and attracts millions of viewers and contributors. It is not always accurate. Whether companies embrace social networking and blogging or not, most will be affected in some manner. Employers need to decide how, not if Web 2.0 will be used and by whom. Will marketing and customer service have blogs? If so, what are the rules? Will recruiters use social media as a method to conduct background checks? Case law is […]
January 1, 2010

A New Year

Often at the end of the year, people review everything that was not accomplished. It’s similar to the feeling many get Sunday evening when they wonder what happened to the weekend, but on a grand scale. People resolve that the new year will be different. They resolve to make adjustments, to be happier, richer and wiser. Human resource professionals resolve to update the Employee Handbook, audit wages, make time to see every employee and get out of hosting the holiday party. Supervisors resolve to write honest, direct performance appraisals, give more atta-boys and work less hours. Unfortunately, by February most […]
December 1, 2009

The Road To Recovery

Labor costs are falling and productivity is increasing. Employers are finding new ways to boost profits, including technological changes to increase machine output. Companies are reaching their limits of how much can be produced with the current workforce; even with consistent overtime. How much is too much to ask of employees? According to Watson Wyatt and World at Work, employers’ cost cutting has contributed to a sharp decline in morale and commitment. Forty-one percent of top performers surveyed believe pay and benefit changes have had a negative effect on quality and service; 29% have lost confidence in management’s ability to […]