The British newspaper The Independent reported that Virgin Atlantic sacked 13 flight attendants for criticizing the airline's flight safety standards and describing its passengers as chavs on Facebook.  And yes, I didn’t know what chav meant either.  Apparently it’s the British equivalent of white trash.  In a statement, the ...

Most people have to check references in some shape or form, whether it’s for a candidate or a babysitter.  I don’t know about you, but until I wrote Success for Hire I never really knew how to do it. Here's what I learned:While you can e-mail a reference initially, connect either in person or by phone with at least one reference for ...

My new book, Success for Hire (ASTD Press) features employee recruitment and retention practices that a lot of people think they know but in reality, don’t put into practice.  One of those practices is effective in-person interviewing, which can ensure that you hire the right candidate the first time around.  The next time you speak ...

The HR Capitalist has a great post about the distrust of those working from home.  Are they really working, asks writer Kris Dunn, or are they simply squeezing 3 hours of work into an 8-hour day? More importantly, can a remote worker/telecommuter even go to lunch without having that ''gotcha'' feeling?  A recent Business Week online ...

Just when you thought the fad of forwarding silly or inappropriate joke e-mails to colleagues had run its course, along comes YouTube.   Now don’t get me wrong:  I think YouTube is the greatest entertainment invention since Nintendo.  My favorite YouTube video is the Montgomery Flea Market commercial, which I must have watched 100 ...

Anita Bruzzese over at 45 Things has an interesting post on workplace romance.  While Anita does mention that 58 percent of us working folk have dated someone you work with and that she herself married someone she met on the job, it’s cool that she doesn’t spend the rest of the post chastising those who are currently in a relationship with a ...

Penelope Trunk has an interesting post on responding to racist comments in a work situation, and she links over to a brilliant entry on the very useful blog, Race in the Workplace.  The author, Carmen Van Kerckhove, is a consultant for New Demographic, an anti-racism training company.   I loved Carmen’s tips on the best way to respond ...

Last weekend, my friend from Michigan was visiting us in Chicago.  She works in finance, which is still an industry made up predominantly of men, and she asked me what I thought about the role of traditional chivalry in the modern workplace.  My friend has men holding doors open for her, and allowing her to sit down first, all the time, ...

It’s your lucky day.  You just got a sweet job offer at a company you’ve been dying to work for.  Congratulations!  Now, though, you want to make sure you leave with your great reputation intact.  In business, you should never burn any bridges, because you never know when you might be working with these people again, or when ...

Expense reports are a reality of employment in Corporate America that most people tend not to think too much about.  You spend money on behalf of your company and HR pays you back ASAP, right?    However, once you go to actually submit your first expense report for a new job, you may realize that reimbursement is more complicated ...