Another Day in the HR Field

Several new laws have taken effect in the last year that affect Public Employers primarily.  Please review this legislative update carefully and contact me for any further information you may need to ensure compliance. P.A. 100-0947 (January 1, 2019) – This Act amends the Counties Code to require that on or before June 1, 2019, every facility that houses a circuit court room shall include at least one lactation room or area for members of the public to express breast milk in private that is located outside the confines of a restroom and includes, at minimum, a chair, table, electrical outlet, and a sink with running water where possible.  This room may be the same space provided to employees. The legislation further requires the Supreme Court to create minimum standards for posting and training of courthouse staff. Construction or renovation of a court facility after June 1, 2019 shall include at least one lactation room or area that is located outside the confines of a res...

My blogging has been pretty sporadic lately! I just finished an overload semester and had a boat load of client work to handle as well. So unpaid work gets pushed aside. I hope to get more regular on this site as time moves forward. Here's a summary of some of the main points related to a program I delivered last week to over 70 management personnel. Recently, I facilitated a training event in Springfield covering the topic above. The exact wording used in the title can often be found at the end of a personnel or employment related policy reminding employees to follow the rules (i.e. policy) or else! The problem is that many times management doesn't enforce those policies because conflict for anyone is not easy and often avoided at all costs. However, the long-term costs to a company for not enforcing can lead to poor performance, attitude, increased turnover, decreased morale of other employees, unfair or inequity complaints to outside agencies or an attorney. So botto...

A Letter to Family, Friends,Clients, & Business Associates: The summer HR intern and I have been conducting a full client file review for all organizations Rogers HR Consulting (RHRC) has worked with and/or provided proposals for since I began the business in 2001. While this was a big project and well overdue it was essential to learn from each client where we stand as a vendor and see how we can support the organizations goals in the future. What we discovered in this process was just how lucky RHRC has been to support such a vast variety of organizations over these past 13 years. Most of our success is because of the word of mouth from people like you. We don't have a budget to advertise and frankly don't have time due to my teaching responsibilities throughout the year in addition to client work. Thus your referrals are and will continue to be greatly appreciated! The following is a summary of the services we have provided to over 100 organizations in order from m...

Is compensation a numbers or a head game?   I think it is a little bit of both, and here is why.   My story with comp starts when I was just in high school and college.   I really wanted to go into accounting because I thought that numbers were fascinating.   I had taken every single business class in high school and had intended to earn a Business Administration degree because I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life back then.   My dream was to be business women wearing suits, making decisions, and managing people.   What that actually looked like in terms of industry of specific field in business, I had no idea. While in college I had to take intermediate accounting, statistics and calculus as well as higher level classes.   Intermediate Accounting was just not fun and I ended up stopping at that point and changing my major.   I had finished my statistics class and my calculus but I didn’t move on to the higher level ma...

Seriously! I have been trying to find time to write this post for some time now. Over the years I have been hearing time after time about companies who have serious communication issues. I have worked for and consulted for companies like this. As hard as one works to improve the problem, the reality is bad communication in organizations is like smoking, overeating, & cussing. Sometimes its just a hard habit to break. Communication problems are not new but what seems to be a commonality in companies in more recent years is they seem to rely too heavily on EMail rather than picking up the phone or walking 10 feet across the hall to talk "in person" to their coworker, supervisor, or owner. Personally I think hours of employee labor could be saved if folks would consider the good old fashion way of communicating. Don't get me wrong, I too have been known to rely on it too heavily at times as well. I'm not perfect by any means but I can recognize that at some p...