Evil HR Lady

When you think of multinational corporations, certain names probably pop into your head. But, there is a completely different kind of global company: the micro-multinational. Daniel Barnett founded and runs one of these companies, WorkEtc, an all-in-one business management platform.

WorkEtc’s company headquarters sit in Australia, with development teams in China and Romania, a chief technical officer in Malaysia, local support in the UK, U.S. and New Zealand and a dedicated sales team in the U.S. “We operate in a 24/7 global marketplace,” Barnett said, “and as a start-up the only way of staying open all hours and keeping lean is with remote teams.”

To keep reading, click here: What If Your 16 Employees Resided in 7 Countries

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How many steps do you take in a day? If you’re like most Americans, the answer to that question is between around 3,000. If you want to be fit and healthy, that number needs to go up. Way up. Same goes for your employees–your most important asset. But it’s an ongoing challenge for everyone.

Enter Glenn Riseley, President and Founder of the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC). He wanted a way to move beyond temporarily improving fitness and “wellness” in the workplace–to encourage people to make lasting changes. GCC does this through a program where people work in teams of seven, tracking their steps through an electronic device over 16 weeks, counting each step in a virtual race around the world. I had the opportunity to interview Glenn about how to help people change and how business owners can bring about change in their employees.

To keep reading, click here: A Wellness Initiative That is Actually Fun

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I live across the street from a kindergarten. Kindergarten, where I live in Switzerland, is two years and begins at four. They have their own building and most of the children walk by themselves to school. Except, they don’t walk. They run.

As adults, we run, too. When we’re very late, or when we’re in exercise clothes, trying to get in shape or just get into our jeans. But, these children are not late. They aren’t trying to lose weight. They are just running, from their houses to the school. And they laugh while they are doing it.

To keep reading, click here: Try Acting More Like a Kindergartner

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Dear Evil HR Lady,

I have two exempt employees, who currently have the same benefits (vacation pay, sick pay, retirement).  One employee is requesting the ability to buy an additional week of vacation.

I’m happy to allow her to do this, but this then brought up a question for me if it wouldn’t simply make more sense moving forward to offer her an additional week of vacation and reduce her salary in general to offset that cost. This would then make the benefits no longer equal (note: Both employees became full time and eligible for vacation at the same time).

So the question is: Do I need to offer the exact same benefits to all salaried employees that are at the same level in company hierarchy?

To read the answer, click here: Do you have to offer everyone identical benefits?

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Dear Evil HR Lady,

I was just fired for using my personal laptop, during my lunch, connected to the company’s “guest” wireless network. When you connect to the guest network, a “rules of the road” message comes up about acceptable use (gambling, illegal activity, etc), but nowhere does it say employees can’t connect while using non-company devices. I am sure many employees throughout the building are connected to the guest wireless on a regular basis. I used my personal laptop to view baseball online during the opening week of the season. I honesty figured it was better to use my personal device on the guest network rather than my corporate device on the corporate network. A few days after doing this my boss called me and sakd, “Someone said you were using your personal laptop at work?” I told him that I had in fact used my computer, on the guest network during lunch, to check Major League Baseball highlights. The next Monday I was terminated for violating company policy.

I have worked for two companies for a total of 32 years. I was rated as “highly valued” or higher in each of my reviews for the 9 years at my latest employer. There were no job performance or attendance issues, but my boss and I did not get along. He is much younger and wanted to be “best buddies” with his subordinates, and I wanted to keep a professional degree of separation. After a recent management style disagreement, I voiced my concerns to my HR rep and a month later I was terminated.

I am trying to move on and am very actively perusing other employment, but the idea of having to tell people in an interview that I was “fired with cause” at my last job is very difficult. I don’t want my job back but would like to set the record straight, maybe get a severance package, and/or my insurance coverage back until I find employment.

Do I have a “case”? Should I seek the advice of a lawyer, or just get over it and move on. I am extremely careful not to bad-mouth my previous employer or company in interviews, but I can’t help but feel “blackballed” for having to explain being fired.

To read the answer, click here: Fired for violating an unwritten policy

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Dear Evil HR Lady,

Will the unfairness in salary range among employees ever end? I don’t think so because there are always loops that these employers can jump through to justify why you are paid such meager wages. I have a degree and experience, but have been laid off. I worked hard for my degree. So now I am looking for a job and no one wants to pay enough.

The requirements they are asking for are not obtained from the schools for free — we have to pay for them. How can an individual pay back student loans and live off of $15/hr and $17/hr? And employers are only doing that because they know people are desperate and need to feed their families — not keep a roof over their heads — but just feed them, since no one can pay a mortgage along with other things with that compensation.

I told one interviewer who was offering me a job for $17/hr that I won’t be able to live on that. I will lose my home, and I have no where to go but at a shelter. The recruiter then fixed her mouth and asked me how am I living on unemployment. In other words, if I can make it on the unemployment check, I can make on $17/hr. I had to give her some choice words and educate her a bit ( we know she won’t be offering me any jobs in the future).

The work place and the whole job search thing has turned into a circus, with employers exploiting the employees by not paying them what they are worth. You can’t say that you won’t get your degree and just look for menial job, no, these employees want an individual to have a degree to file documents or to answer the phone for $10/hr.

You see the government knows that NO ONE can survive on the little handout they call unemployment, therefore they offer programs to assist with your mortgage and utilities, and the criteria for these programs is that you must be on unemployment. The minute you get a job, all the assistance stops. Therefore, one has to get a job that will allow them to keep their head above water.

What is this society coming to? it’s oppression right around — in the workplace, and even when you’re trying to get a job. Is there any one who can look into this?

To read the answer, click here: Why won’t employers offer me a fair salary?

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Dear Evil HR Lady,

I work well over 60 hours and am a salaried exempt employee.

However when I take paid time off, my boss texts me to call or email my team to get them to produce and work. Basically to light a fire under their butts to make them work harder. She will also sometimes ask me to go in to email her a report on my day off.

When I took a week long vacation in the Caribbean she still kept texting me about work related matters. What I want to know is, is it legal? Are there any laws against this?

Also I work insane amount of hours and don’t take lunch breaks. But some weeks I have to take my kids or my elderly parents to those doctor appointments. This takes about 2 hours. I always inform her about it.

She gives me a hard time about it and tells me to find a doctor who is open late or on weekends. Is this acceptable? I am one of her good managers in production and work like a dog.

To read the answer click here: Can your boss text you when you’re on vacation?

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I’m looking for a suggestion for a women in business type book that focuses on gender differences/attributes.

Anybody know any?

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Are most young people ready for the working world? Not according to their mothers.

A new survey commissioned by McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union shows that moms are worried about their children’s future independence:

• 49 percent of moms believe their children are unprepared to get a job
• 44 percent believe their children will not be able to finance college
• 33 percent believe their children are “not at all prepared” to save money or live on their own

To keep reading, click here: Many moms say their kids are unprepared for the future

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