HR Stories Podcast - A Lesson in Every Story!
Welcome to the HR Stories Podcast - where there is a lesson in every story. Our Storytellers - John Thalheimer and Chuck Simikian, the Team behind HR Stories, share real-life tales about where a business made a preventable mistake. At The HR Stories Podcast, the STORIES are the teaching tool! LISTEN to the stories of those that did not heed the warning signs. LEARN from their mistakes. ACT on best practices shared by our hosts and guests. Each year, our hosts Chuck Simikian and John Thalheimer, deliver thousands of live seminars around the country to business owners, executives, and HR professionals discussing the fundamentals of Human Resources, Leadership best practices, and legal risk reduction activities for organizations. In each HR Story episode, they share a story of where a company missed the mark and what went wrong...and how you can avoid their fate. As the Team at HR Stories, John and Chuck continue to develop and provide resources to help HR leaders, businesses owners, and organizations with the confidence they need to successfully when handling employee issues and building strong employee practices to be in compliance with employment laws. Both are successful entrepreneurs who help businesses through HR consulting, training, and coaching leaders. They have coached and trained thousands of HR Professionals as, Business Owners, and Leaders to prepare them for the future. When the Coronavirus stopped America in 2019, John and Chuck wanted to share their knowledge. They realized that the stories they shared in their seminars were the perfect vehicle to teach the principles of human resources management. In short, there is a lesson in every story. John is the Founding Director of True Star Leadership™, which focuses on helping managers and leaders learn the principles of performance management. Chuck is the Founding Partner of Alliance HR Partners, which provides HR consulting and training to businesses across the country. Together they have over 40 years navigating the challenges of HR and have recently published their book - The Ultimate Book of HR Checklists – Getting HR Right: Your Step-by-Step Reference for Avoiding Costly Mistakes. Go to https://hrchecklists.com/ for more information, download a free sample, and watch their webinar on the Secret Power Behind Successful Businesses.
Episodes
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- How does confidentiality work in HR?
- What suggestions do you have to boost employee moral and how do you work with employees who don’t want to participate in employee activities?
- We have one person who had approved time off - has booked their vacation already - and another who is asking for the sa...
It’s July! You know that means we’re celebrating! Not only the 4th of July but also the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, signed July 2nd in 1964. In today’s episode, Chuck and John talk about the importance of this act and the work of the EEOC through the eyes of three employees of a property management company where they were subjected to vulgar and ethnicity-related harassment.
In the HR News segmen...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Can I hold an employee responsible for behavior that they participate in outside of work, on personal time?
- Does it ever get easier to terminate someone?
- If a company schedules a meeting over a posted holiday, can you shift that PTO day to another day?
The Ultimate Book of HR ...
Laws around discrimination on the basis of sex are nothing new but the conversation and nuance around it has changed. While political climates have made conversations around gender and sex a heated topic, how do you ensure your employees, management, and HR policies align with the law, not personal opinions. In today’s episode, Chuck and John take you through three stories where companies failed to follow the...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Do you have a good step-by-step process for creating or gathering job descriptions for all roles in the company?
- How do you handle an employee who has slower output but claims to have a disability?
- Do you have any suggestions for remote activities or keepsakes that are unique to celebrate an upcom...
Summer’s here and you don’t want to get ‘burned’ by the seasonal conditions. In today’s episode, Chuck and John explore the dangers of outdoor work conditions and how they can result in the most tragic of circumstances if you are not taking the proper steps to protect your employees.
In the HR News segment, the team touches on the following topics and more:
- Years of experience on its way out of job requirem...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Can I, as an exempt employee, work in a non-exempt role at the same company performing a separate job?
- We hired someone has a salary exempt employee but after 10 months, his job description changed and reclassified him as non-exempt. Do we need to pay him overtime when he was classified as salary...
In today's episode, we're unraveling a case that blends social media, workplace rights, and a touch of constitutional debate. Chuck and John explore how Bevins & Son Inc. found themselves embroiled in a Department of Labor lawsuit over unpaid wages and social media retaliation. Discover how a Facebook post turned a wage dispute into a federal case, challenging the boundaries of employer speech a...
Today, we jump back into the vault to revisit one of our most popular stories from this year - Sheri Minarsky's workplace harassment fight. We'll be back next week with a new episode.
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Dive into a riveting episode of HR Stories Podcast, featuring the story of Sheri Minarsky's brave stand against workplace harassment. This episode, reveals Sheri's struggle as a secretary...
Your office might be susceptible to a fast-spreading and harmful contagion. You can't see it but you can feel it... and you can definitely hear it. In this week's episode, Chuck and John talk about those negative voices you experience in the office and how they can impact your team. Navigating these type of interactions and individuals can be challenging but it is key to address it before it tears t...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Several employees clock in early and sit around, drinking coffee and talking, prior to their shift. Are we required to pay them for this?
- What do you do if you start a new company and some employees do not have I-9’s or other documents?
- How do you handle an underperforming new hire that threatens ...
Chuck and John do a twist on the normal episode, taking headlines you may have read and heard about and diving into them to pull out the lessons to be learned. In this jam-packed episode, the team talks through a several topics.
Can making someone work longer shifts be illegal? The team's favorite answer - It depends.
When companies are pulling back the reigns on WFH, is it inadverten...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today we have a couple of updates before we dive into the questions.
- White-Collar Exemption Update
- Can you keep gossip out of the workplace?
- Reasons companies aren’t hiring 50+
Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Do I need to get a new I-9 for an employee who just became a citizen?
- Does an exempt employee have to work 40 hours...
An employee gets drug tested and the test comes back positive. Seems like an easy call to make... or so you think. This was the predicament that an Airgas employee found himself in after using hemp products during his cancer treatments. After trying to plead his case, that he had not been doing drugs, Airgas terminated him, claiming it was their honest belief that it was the right decision based on their info...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Is there a type of policy an organization should have that shows the process of suggesting new ideas or policies?
- Our company is being bought out and there is a new perfect attendance policy. This feels like it will disproportionately impact working parents. Is this legal? How should I address co...
This week, the team is uncovering the dark side of retaliation in the workplace, straight from a nightmarish case at Tosh Farms, Tennessee. A shocking number of EEOC claims involve retaliation. Listen in to hear the spine-chilling tactics used against employees and the impact on company reputation and legal standing.
In the HR News segment, the team touches on the following topics and more:
- How p...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- Our handbook policy says we cannot wear anything vulgar, but we don’t have anything about vulgar bumper stickers on our personal vehicles. Can managers order individuals to cover vulgar bumper stickers on their personal vehicles?
- I have an HR friend who was asking me about a problem supervisor wh...
Join Chuck and John in this special episode where they replay their webinar they hold quarterly, updating HR professionals in all of the major industry law and regulation updates YOU CAN’T MISS! Stick around to the end for a special announcement
From reviewing the big game changer policies of 2023 such as the I-9 changes, the PUMP Act, and religious accommodations, to talking about the most recent updates to m...
In this week's episode, we delve into the critical yet often overlooked aspects of the PUMP Act, through the lens of two compelling stories from nursing mothers at McDonald's. Discover what happens when workplace policies fail to support nursing employees, and the crucial lessons HR can learn from these real-life experiences.
We'll explore the importance of the PUMP Act for HR professionals, of...
Welcome to another Listener Q&A with The Team at HR Stories! Today's episode goes into these questions:
- We’re having trouble with a background check on a 15 year old intern. Is this even required?
- An employee verbally assaulted a new employee and she claims her autoimmune disease causes her to not think clearly and not act herself. What do you do in this situation?
- Are we legally required to provide...
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