An Open Letter to Mark Cuban, Owner, Dallas Mavericks … #MeToo

Dear Mr. Cuban:   The Dallas Mavericks suffered a human resources crisis. Congratulations on hiring a leader from AT&T as your new CEO, but that is just the first step towards correcting the culture. I am sure new leadership will make a difference, but I would encourage you to look...

HR Response to Workplace Shootings – A Detailed Guide

Warning: This article is disturbing, but it has valuable information for everyone in an HR or leadership role who may be responsible for leading an organization through crisis.   In my 25+ years of HR, I have been involved in a number of workplace deaths and workplace shootings.  There is...

A Candidate’s View of Recruiting and Applicant Databases

HR Should Demand More of the Recruiting Function and Critically Evaluate The Use Of Technology and Applicant Tracking Systems   Synopsis The purpose of this article is to encourage recruiters and HR professionals to honestly look at their recruiting process to determine if a desire for technological efficiency is hurting...

Don’t Assume What Employees Want To Do Next

This post was going to be “Get your nose out of my hierarchy,” but that was far too esoteric.  My premise is that Managers should ask more questions before offering career advice, especially with hourly employees.   There is a fine line between constructive career advice and presumptuousness about what makes...

Untimely Sexual Harassment Complaints

This post addresses the HR implications for an expected change in the landscape for reporting and investigating sexual harassment, specifically harassment that is alleged to have occurred years in the past. When receiving an allegation about long-past harassment, you should: Let the employee know you appreciate the fact that they...

Empathizing with an Unemployed Friend

Do you know someone who is unemployed and looking for a job?  Being someone who was recently impacted by a restructuring (also known as a displacement, layoff, etc.), I thought I would offer some advice about how you can best support a colleague, friend or loved one going through a...

Interviewing – More Than The Questions

In the 1990's and the 2000's, many interviewing skills courses focused on the STAR (Situation Task Action Result) technique and prohibited “illegal” questions.  More recently, companies have been providing hiring managers a list of required "validated" questions  - leaving managers the sole task of identifying which answers best demonstrated the...

Modern Termination Decision-Making Paradigm

Many Human Resources and Employment Law specialists live by the mantra “document, document, document.”  Documentation is important, but there is a far greater need for HR professionals to change the paradigm of how we all make cause-based termination decisions.  I propose the decision matrix that is outlined here: Termination Decision Matrix...

Diversity – I Learned Everything I Needed to Know in Second Grade

I attended public school in New York City (P.S. 162).  When I was in 2nd grade, the first wave of voluntary busing was on the horizon.  My third grade class was going to have kids from a predominantly African American neighborhood just outside the zone for our local school.  Evidently...