Chamber Blog

Mark Your Calendar New Members Like a lot of firms, tech company Buffer has a variety of Slack channels. It’s doubtful, though, that many have one that replicates Buffer’s conduit for employees to discuss their mental health issues. That’s where founder and chief executive Joel Gascoigne posts about his therapy appointments. Another employee shared that…

Mark Your Calendar New Members Before an employee can sue an organization for violating anti-discrimination laws, he or she must file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or a similar state agency. The EEOC or state agency then notifies the employer of the charge and, in most cases, requests a formal, written…

Mark Your Calendar New Members The growing popularity of cannabis oil is leading to more positive tests for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in marijuana.  But what exactly is cannabis oil? Can workers get high from it? Why would they use it? Is it illegal?  Experts weigh in to keep HR professionals and managers up-to-date…

Mark Your Calendar New Members It’s that time of year when students around the country head back to school.  As a result, employers will see an increase in employee requests for time off work to deal with a variety of their kids’ school-related activities. In evaluating parental requests for time off, employers need to be…

Mark Your Calendar New Members Imagine being a young woman who is excited to work in HR. She joins a Japanese car manufacturer that over eight years grows more than 250 percent. She is good at problem solving, is often invited to be a speaker and becomes the youngest woman to be promoted into the…

Mark Your Calendar New Members The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) newly proposed apprenticeship programs would be available to certified industry groups, schools, nonprofits and unions and would be largely free from regulatory oversight. The DOL recently released the long-anticipated Notice of Proposed Rulemaking establishing certification requirements for a Trump administration priority: industry-recognized apprenticeship programs. The expansion of employer-led…

Mark Your Calendar New Members Christian Shinkle, SHRM-CP, admits that he used to be a bad boss. Working as a restaurant manager years ago, he says, he was a “Gordon Ramsay-type,” alluding to the reality TV chef from “Hell’s Kitchen” known for berating contestants. Shinkle would shout at employees, detailing their mistakes in blunt terms.…

Mark Your Calendar New Members Robert is a human resources director in a local community hospital who feels the heaviness of low staff morale. Employees are clearly tired, they feel like they’re working at their maximum, and they’re having a hard time keeping up with the patient load. In fact, due to leaves of absence…

Mark Your Calendar New Members If 80% of your employees were willing to leave your company for just one thing, you’d want to know what it is, right? Even more, you’d want to know what you can do about it, too. I’ll cut to the chase. That one thing? It’s development. According to the ExecuSearch…

Mark Your Calendar New Members A newly issued regulation could transform how employers pay for employee health care coverage, its advocates claim, by letting employers use pretax dollars to subsidize employee premiums in the individual health insurance market. On June 13, the U.S. departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury issued a final…