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Introducing the 'New' BLR

It's with (slightly) mixed emotions that I announce that Business & Legal Reports, the company I founded 32 years ago, is today changing its name to Business & Legal Resources, and new corporate website at www.BLR.com.

You may be wondering -- why the change? The switch from "Reports" to "Resources" may not seem like much, but it's a symbolic move that reflects the evolution of our business. While our newsletters and other traditional products are still extremely popular (and we trust you'll continue to like them!), our business has evolved. Our Web-based compliance portals, on-demand training software, and Web applications reflect a new direction and future for BLR and our relationship with you, our customers.

The bottom line? BLR is still ... BLR. Our business has evolved, but how we build the core compliance and training information you depend on day in and day out has not changed. It is still prepared and delivered by our editorial teams of lawyers and industry experts in a plain-English format that makes it easily understood and implemented by non-lawyers.

I'd like to invite you to visit the new www.BLR.com and let me know what you think of the changes. You'll still find our entire product line in our online catalog. And don't forget the many free resources we provide for employment, safety, and environmental professionals.

And speaking of our online catalog, we are having a "launch sale" to celebrate the new BLR name and website. For this week only, in honor of the launch of our new brand and site-all sales through our online catalog will be 30 percent off. Be sure to use coupon code BLRlaunch at checkout.

Regards,

Robert L. Brady, CEO
BLR^®—Business & Legal Resources

20 Bad Boss Behaviors -- See Any in Yours?

Everyone encounters “toxic” bosses, but in this economy, it's something people may just have to deal with. In the new book, Working for You Isn't Working for Me: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Boss (Portfolio, September 2009) , authors Katherine Crowley (a psychotherapist) and Kathi Elster (a business strategist) help you with bad boss behaviors and--luckily--tell you how to reclaim control of the relationship regardless of your rank. Here are the 20 behaviors; your boss may have one, some, or all:

1. Chronic Critic: finds fault with everything you do
2. Rule Changer: keeps changing and rearranging what he or she originally decided
3. Yeller: explodes without notice and says incriminating things about you
4. Underminer: will set you up to fail
5. “I'm Always Right”: needs to be considered infallible
6. “You Threaten Me”: takes credit when it's not due
7. Grandiose: can't see past his or her own ego
8. Control Freak: micromanages uncontrollably
9. Love-Struck: can't manage his or her own emotions
10. Calculating Confident: has a hidden agenda
11. Tell-All: makes you his or her captive audience
12. Liar, Liar: can implicate you in his or her lies
13. Sacred Cow: not going anywhere; if you challenge you will lose
14. Checked Out: preoccupied with non-work-related matters
15. Spineless: incapable of defending anyone
16. Artful Dodger: afraid of tarnishing his or her perfect image
17. Junior: many not value your experience
18. Former Colleague: the balance of power has changed
19. Unconscious Discriminator: unintentionally expresses bias
20. Persecutor: targets and torments you

For more on this topic, you can visit the authors' website at www.ksquaredenterpises.com. For more on the lighter side of HR, take a look at HR Strange but True.

HR and Legal: Can't We All Just Get Along?

You know you've been there: The legal department is advising you to do something that has no bearing on the real world of the workplace. "Just have managers stop inflating their performance ratings." Sure, that will happen. "Keep employees from clocking in early." Yeah, right. You know that you’re both on the same side, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel that way.

BLR^® founder and CEO Bob Brady recently spoke with Anthony Amendola and Veronica von Grabow, both attorneys with the Los Angeles office of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, LLP, about this common source of frustration for HR folks. Here are some excerpts of their conversation that originally appeared in the HR Daily Advisor:

Bob: What's at the root of the ongoing friction between HR and legal?

Anthony: Some of the most common areas of conflict between legal and HR arise from an organization's failure to clearly define roles. Both legal and HR have critical, but very different, roles to play.

Veronica: The easiest thing for a lawyer to say is that a proposed action is risky. But experienced attorneys know that they have to work with HR to identify potential problems and develop practical solutions to resolve them.

Anthony: Yes, it's important for legal professionals to understand they need to get their head out of the clouds and help HR to come up with practical, workable solutions that effectively manage risk while furthering the business objective.

Bob: What are the downsides when this doesn't happen—when the cooperative efforts fail?

Veronica: The complex web of federal, state, and local labor and employment laws can be a trap for the unwary employer, and even for experienced HR folks. Employers must understand when it's time to contact an attorney rather than handle the situation themselves.

Bob: Many employers feel that they simply can't afford to hire outside counsel right now.

Anthony: Even in tough economic times, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Knowing when to ask for help is actually even more crucial now because so many companies are being asked to do more with less. This may mean that managers and human resource professionals are being asked to handle situations on their own.

Veronica: Collaboration between HR and legal to educate supervisors on key labor and employment laws is an important way to keep your workplace running smoothly and litigation-free.

Bob: So it sounds like effective communication between HR and legal is more important now than ever before.

Veronica: Absolutely. HR and legal must communicate early and often in order to uncover and address problems while they're still manageable.

If you're looking for more guidance on how to do this, you're in luck: Both Anthony and Veronica will be speaking at the BLR^® National Employment Law Update conference October 19-21 in Las Vegas. They'll be presenting an optional preconference workshop session on October 19 called "Clash of the Titans: What to Do When HR and Legal Conflict." Among the topicsa they'll cover:

• Why legal and HR so often collide, and the most common areas of conflict
• How to help your in-house or outside counsel understand what you're dealing with "on the front lines"
• The times it's best to call in the lawyers rather than trying to handle a situation yourself
• How to most effectively collaborate with counsel in the event of an investigation or lawsuit
• Tips for working together to keep your workplace running smoothly and litigation-free

As an added bonus, you'll have the opportunity to meet not only Veronica and Anthony, but also our fearless leader—Bob will be presenting a lunchtime talk on strategic HR on October 20. He's looking forward to meeting you and finding out more about the concerns and challenges on your mind these days.

Product Spotlight: Essential Safety Policies

If the law doesn't require employers to have handbooks and policy manuals—even for safety and health issues—then why should your organization go to the trouble and expense of creating them? Two words: safety pays.

The investment in written policies that ensure your employees understand your safety and security rules returns positive—and measurable—results. Incorporating those policies into your core business processes helps you:

• Reduce the cost and frequency of penalties
• Minimize the likelihood of lawsuits
• Increase productivity and morale
• Expand safety awareness at all levels
• Improve communication and trust between management and workers
• Bring about a lasting, positive change
• Protect your company’s reputation

In addition to these very useful functions, the flip side is that a lack of policies sends the message that safety is a secondary concern. BLR editors have compiled samples of some of the most important policies into a handy manual—Essential Safety Policies—that covers three broad subjects:  safety, health, and security.

Essential Safety Policies is an authoritative source of guidance and information that managers and supervisors can turn to not only in situations where the "right" course of action is unclear, but also in cases where they are tempted to act on memory or instinct.

Take a look, and see if Essential Safety Policies should have a spot on your bookshelf.

Product Spotlight: Enviro.BLR.com

Working on a tight schedule or budget is a way of life these days. Faced with reduced staff and fewer resources, you have no choice but to adapt. Multitasking and becoming more efficient are a good start, but when it comes to regulation and compliance—you must be absolutely certain that you are getting accurate, reliable information. And that gets harder every day with the proliferation of self-proclaimed "experts."

Even if you do find a reliable source, it won't save you any time if you need someone translate all of the techno-speak. At BLR, we understand how frustrating this can be, so we'd like to tell you about the Time Savers you get as part of your Enviro.BLR.com subscription (they're also available on our other sites).

What's a Time Saver?

Time Savers are prewritten documents we provide that helps you do your job better and faster. Forms, checklists, employee newsletters, and written plans save you preparation time and allow you to focus on keeping your organization in compliance—and keeping your employees safe.

Of course, making all of these searchable and available our Enviro.BLR.com Web portal gives you an even bigger advantage. Not only will you be able to quickly find the right sample plan, checklist, or form—you can now download and customize it or e-mail it to a co-worker who needs it. And that's true for both federal and state-specific regulations.

Among the most helpful Time Savers are our sample plans, which allow you to adapt and format sample EHS plans for such topics as Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasures (SPCC) and stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP), among many others. These are not only customizable and provide all the necessary information you need to deliver a comprehensive plan, but you can also save them on the Web for future use.

These time savers do a lot more for your organization than just save time - they provide reliable and updated data and compliance information that helps reduce you're legal exposure and keep your employees safe and productive. We invite you take a look at the Time Savers and all of the other great features of Enviro.BLR.com.

Should You 'Friend' Your Boss? Co-Workers? Clients?

Thinking about "friending" your boss on Facebook^®? You may want to reconsider. According to a recent survey, nearly half of executives are uncomfortable being friended by employees they manage (48 percent) or by their bosses (47 percent ).

Face it —social networking is invading the office. The issue used to be, “Which friends will I 'friend?'" But what about when the boss wants to friend you? And what about the other side of the coin—should you friend the boss? What about co-workers? Vendors? Clients?

A recent survey suggests that friending in these situations often makes people uncomfortable. But, because it's not always avoidable, the survey's developers—OfficeTeam—suggest setting up some different levels of friends, so that the people from the office don't see pictures from your social life that may not be appropriate for the office.

Survey says ...

OfficeTeam is a staffing service specializing in the placement of highly skilled administrative professionals. Their survey, previously reported on by the HR Daily Advisor,  was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 150 randomly selected senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies.

Executives were asked, "How comfortable would you feel about being 'friended' by the following individuals on Facebook?" Their responses:

	Boss	Co-workers	Reports	Clients	Vendors
Very comfortable	19%	13%	12%	7%	6%
Somewhat comfortable	28%	38%	32%	34%	23%
Not very comfortable	15%	13%	15%	17%	24%
Not comfortable at all	32%	28%	33%	33%	38%
Don't know	6%	8%	8%	9%	9%

OfficeTeam Executive Director Robert Hosking advises managers and employees to familiarize themselves with privacy settings and create different friend lists to control how—and with whom—information is shared. "Individuals should classify their professional contacts into a 'work' list and limit what personal details this group can view," said Hosking.

Following are some common Facebook situations professionals may encounter—and OfficeTeam's recommendations for handling them:

• You're tagged in an embarrassing photo. Untag yourself and change your privacy settings so photos are viewable only by your close friends.
• You're friended by someone you don't want to connect with. It might be best to accept friend requests from colleagues to avoid slighting them, but add them to a "work" list and adjust your privacy settings so you can effectively separate your job from your personal life.
• You're considering friending your boss. It may seem like a natural extension of amiable office small talk, but think twice before proactively friending your boss. It could become awkward for both of you.
• You want to join various groups. You should join groups that interest you. But if you have colleagues in your network and don't want them to see the groups you join, remember to adjust your application settings.
• You would like to be a fan of certain pages. Becoming a fan of pages on Facebook is visible to anyone who can view your profile, so you should avoid becoming a fan of any page you are uncomfortable sharing with coworkers or business contacts in your network.
• You love quizzes. Stop and think for a moment before taking online quizzes and posting the results to your Facebook page—unless you want professional contacts to know which Gilligan’s Island character you most resemble.

What has your experience been with Facebook and other social media in the office setting? Leave a comment and let us know.

Is Your Lunch Killing Your Career?

No, we're not talking about the obvious perils of downing a pungent pastrami on rye just before an intimate meeting with the executive committee. We're talking Tupperware^®.

Writing on her blog at justsell.com, e-columnist Helena Echlin says that toting Tupperware “is like wearing an old cardigan to work; there's nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't project power and success.”

Echlin quotes etiquette expert Beverly Langford as saying that your lunch is an accessory, “a part of your nonverbal communication, just like your jewelry.” So, much like the old “dress for success” theory, you should chose your lunch based on where you want to go with your company.

Last night's lasagna may be tasty, but your lunch should say “management material,” says San Antonio creative director Stan McElrae on the blog. Bringing your lunch conveys that when you get up in the morning, you are deciding what to pack rather than what work you have to do that day, he contends.

One lunch-your-way-up-the-ladder maxim is “expensive is best.” The ultimate lunch? Sushi--delivered! “It reeks of power--and wasabi,” says McElrae.

The flip side of that theory is that  the ultimate power lunch is a take-out sandwich. “You can eat it quickly, so it makes you look like a go-getter,” explains Langford, “and it doesn't look like you were home stuffing chicken fricassee into a container when you could get to work 5 minutes earlier.”

So what is the best lunchtime maneuver? How about using pizza as a networking tool. It makes you look successful while on a budget. “There's nothing like ordering in a pizza to unite an office,” McElrae concludes. 

For more career-saving tips, take a cruise through HR Strange but True!

Have Your Job Descriptions Become 'Lawyer Bait'?

One upshot of the economic downturn was that many employees saw their jobs change and grow. There may be fewer bodies out there, but the work still has to get done. In a lot of cases, that means job descriptions are out of date and inaccurate. And that could be prime fodder for a lawsuit.

For example, if an employee is classified as exempt, but is now doing some non-exempt work, a lawsuit could be on the way, said Attorney Sandra Rappaport. "In this age of downsizing and job consolidation, even your best, most complete job descriptions have likely become outdated." she said, "And outdated job descriptions are a plaintiff's lawyer's best friend."

Rappaport, a partner at the San Francisco office of law firm Hanson Bridgett, LLP, said that many employers don’t realize that it’s what an employee does that matters, not the person’s job title: “Someone called a ‘manager’ may not be an exempt employee,” she said. “Exempt workers who perform too many nonexempt duties may not be exempt.”

With employers around the country trying to do more with less these days, that means that once-exempt workers are spending more time on non-exempt duties. And, when the balance tips too far in that direction, you’re required to pay overtime. You could even be on the hook for years of back overtime, depending on how long the misclassification has gone on. “Relying on an old job description and thinking you’re safe is a sure path to disaster," she said.

Rappaport and her colleague Mike Moye, a fellow partner at Hanson Bridgett, regularly counsel employers on exemption issues and are frequent speakers at industry events. They will be presenting a unique job descriptions workshop at BLR’s National Employment Law Update conference Oct. 19-21, at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The workshop will cover:

• Elements that should be included in every job description
• The steps you should take when you create new job descriptions from scratch
• Red flags that could cost you big in a lawsuit
• Why your current job descriptions may not match the way you’re treating employees in terms of overtime pay and benefits—and why you need to fix this, immediately
•  How to evaluate whether a given job description tends to indicate exempt or nonexempt status

Attendees will have the opportunity to submit their own job descriptions for exempt/nonexempt review by Rappaport and Moye before the session.

You can read more of Rappaport's job description tips in the HR Daily Advisor.

Product Spotlight: Managing an HR Department of One

So, you’ve chosen a career as an HR professional. You're either new to the role, or you find yourself  in a situation where you are pretty much on your own. Your confidence can quickly ebb as you start to feel overwhelmed by your new responsibilities. But in a small or solo HR situation, where do you turn for help?

After hearing that story over and over again, our editors decided to do something about it. The result is BLR's Managing an HR Department of One. The five-chapter binder (also available as a download) gives practical tips for getting big HR performance from a small staff.  The book provides an overview of compliance – federal, state and best practices, including tips and strategies, plus a CD with timesaving prewritten model forms and policies ready to customize or use "as is."

Managing an HR Department of One will help you demonstrate your value to the organization by showing you how to:

• Develop strategies to staff the company for short and long-term goals
• Create and communicate organizational policies and practices
• Develop and implement a fair and equitable compensation program
• Keep thorough records and ensure confidentiality
• Communicate with and train employees and managers
• Develop a fair and legal disciplinary system

You don't have to go it alone. Why not take a few moments to find out more about Managing an HR Department of One.

Got a Tough Question? Try the HR and EHS Forums

If you've ever visited an online forum or discussion group, you know what an invaluable resource they can be. Even if you have the stickiest HR or safety question, the chances are good that some of your colleagues have faced the same issue -- and found a solution. While every response to your posts may not be perfect or complete, the collective wisdom of the group will almost always point you in the right direction. And you're likely to come across some ideas and approaches that never would have occurred to you.

At BLR, we have HR and EHS Forums that address dozens of important topics. The Forums are free and open to everyone, subscriber or not. And our team of experts regularly participates in the discussions to help ensure that you get quality, accurate information.

On the HR side, you'll find more than 3,000 of your colleagues participating in Forums on benefits and leave, compensation, performance and termination, staffing and training, and many other core issues. In our EHS Forums, more than 4,500 professionals share their expertise on such topics as OSHA and EPA compliance, safety and environmental best practices, emerging issues, and much more.

So, how can these Forums help you? Here's just one example. An HR Forums member recently asked whether anyone had an FMLA tracking template or spreadsheet that they would be willing to share. Soon thereafter a colleague stepped up and said she would email the one from her organization. That opened the floodgates -- dozens of other grateful HR people asked for -- and received -- the spreadsheet.

If you haven't stopped by yet, we invite you to visit our HR and EHS Forums and join the conversation. You'll find them here:

• HR Forum
• EHS Forum