Jim Thomason's "The Business of People"

One of the little-talked-about benefits of the Affordable Care Act's Insurance Marketplace is that people who lose their health coverage during the year become eligible to sign-up.  The same COBRA qualifying events that make you eligible to elect COBRA also make you eligible for mid-year sign ups on state or federal Exchanges.  Employers can charge you 102% of the full premium for your existing coverage, and generally employees pay about 1/3 to 1/2 of the full premium.  COBRA premiums, then, are sure to be anywhere from double to triple what you normally pay. Exchange coverage will be 100% of the full premium.  The coverage pool is also larger than most employers.  Chances are your premiums will be the same or less than COBRA coverage.  However depending upon your income you could be eligible for a subsidy which could make the coverage less expensive.  Another advantage is that if you did not elect a certain coverage as an employee you cannot elect ...

Interviews are possibly the most important thing a manager will do.  Hiring the right people, and keeping the wrong fit out, is one cornerstone of good performance for the whole team.  A poor contributor, or poor attitude, or both will drag down a whole team.  All-stars properly motivated left the whole group. Bad interview technique can also lead to legal exposure if questions drift into non-job-related subjects. I have found that this happens far more out of ignorance and lack of planning than prejudice. With this in mind here is how to construct interview questions that will keep you legal and focused on the search for great people. Plan your interview questions into two groups: 1. Task-based 2. Probing for Past Performance and Attitudes Task-Based Questions You want to know if the candidate can perform the essential functions of the job.  To do that you want to marry the duties of the job with the prepositional phrases from Behavioral Interviewing. ...