Im new to HR and saw HRCI being a good cert to help with eduction. I have 5 years as a medical scheduler and have a degree in business.

I saw this on the HRCI website. Would this be a good starter cert?

https://learn.hrci.org/learning-paths/certificate-in-human-resource-management

Hello everyone! Could you please suggest employee monitoring software that respect the privacy of employees? Which features are the most useful for tracking which tasks employees work on, as opposed to just giving me a pile of screenshots? Are there any software using AI to do this effectively?

Just got a job at a small company doing construction. They have never had HR before. Im noticing one of the supervisors, who has been there for 20+ years, can say really mean things to people or almost be "bullying" them. They mean well, it's it's a chuckle to them but I don't think the rest of the staff feel that way.

No one has said anything to yet directly about having an issue, but the behavior has been mentioned and how staff see it as "negative". Should I get involved or stay out of it till it's brought to my attention?

My employer would like to move forward with termination after our employee asked for a promotion. Leadership says it because Employee does not perform their role, as is.

The Employee has multiple roadblocks to perform their role, lack of resources, lack of strategy, poor leadership, minimal autonomy. We are a small company, in a mismanaged growth stage. Additionally, no Job Mandate, no goals set by Leadership.

I [People and Culture Manager] have convinced leadership to move forward with Employee by giving them exactly what they are asking for to perform their duties, and revisit the promotion conversation in six months.

Leadership still wants to issue a verbal warning - which I don’t entirely disagree with, as Employee has been combative, curt and dismissive these past two weeks, behaviors clearly listed as unacceptable in our Code of Conduct.

How do we (leadership) deliver this news in a meeting with Employee? No promotion, Leadership supplying resources + partnership for next six months, issuing a verbal warning. I strongly feel we will lose this Employee. Can I challenge the verbal warning as retaliatory. It feels like it is. I’d be more comfortable reviewing our Code of Conduct with Employee to refresh expectations.

HR Generalist - Non-Profit

I've known about the SECURE 2.0 Act for at least two years, yet when I asked our benefits coordinator, he had no clue what I was talking about. This was concerning to me.

I was asking primarily about the student loan employer match piece because while we employ folks of all ages, we have a lot of Gen Zers, so I thought this could be a solid retention benefit.

Would you expect your benefits coordinator to know about SECURE 2.0 act and its possible impact on an organization?

If they didn't know about it, would you expect the retirement plan administrator to tell them about it?

Does anyone know if an organization can be penalized for not abiding by the act guidelines?

Am I being unrealistic in thinking that a benefits professional would know about this act?

Hi all! I am taking the PHR exam in a week. I feel decently prepared but I may have some blindspots.

What do you wish you knew going in?

Thanks!

Hello! I’m a recruiter for a mortgage company.

We had this one candidate drive 30 minutes for an interview and the hiring managers weren’t there. This was due to a technical error on Microsoft teams where the message ended up in my deleted folder which told me to reschedule the interview. (I think this was due to a rule on outlook)

Anyways, I feel bad since she drove kinda far and did nothing wrong. Would it be weird to compensate her for gas privately or is that unprofessional?

Thank you!!

I get the messaging from the Executive level that this is a chance to get rid of all the people we don't want around. The undocumented problem employees and hard to document problem employees. Low performers, bad personalities, etc.

This feels so problematic. I understand that any decision is not 100% motivated by one factor, but it's challenging to know where to draw the line between "this person is being dismissed for cause and we didn't document the problems" and "this person is being laid off because they are the least productive person in the department."

Our HR counsel said that it's completely fine to tell people they are being laid off when you probably would have fired them anyway if you didn't have a financial reason. I was also told that we could code it as a layoff even if we planned to rehire for the position in about 4 months. This doesn't seem right in my experience.

How does your company view the boundary between layoffs and regular terms?

Do you add MSHRM in your email signature after your name? Why or why not?

We've been trying to recruit a Comp Advisor and there just doesn't seem to be many HR folks with that type of experience. We're getting plenty of interest from HR professionals, but with no Comp experience. Do most companies outsource that HR function now?

I’ve been working in HR for several years. I am autistic and although I’m relatively successful at my job, I am completely burnt out. For those not familiar, being autistic means I need to “mask” all day. Essentially, I consider my job to be acting, because that’s what I do.

The employee relations work is destroying me. I would like to learn more about people, because I think understanding them and having better strategies on how to guide folks would help me. I have my go to “scripts” but it’s not sufficient to be truly excellent at my role. I’ve been looking at certificate programs and degrees, and although counseling appeals to me, I can’t do the internship/clinical parts for most places since I have my full-time job. Does anyone know of any good programs that might help with what I’m looking for? I am open to life coaching type stuff, communications, psychology, etc. I’ve done the DISC assessment but am looking for something substantially more in-depth. Even if you think it might not be exactly what I’m looking for, I’m totally open to suggestions.

Thank you.

I work in a service oriented field. Our technicians go to different health care facilities and repair equipment. We are a small company and I'm the only person in HR. We also have a PEO. We had three technicians on a job at a customer site. It's a huge and well known medical facility. The custodian of the medical facility was a minority. Two of our technicians are minority and one is not. The one who is not, asked the custodian what nationality he was or where he was from. He stated Liberia. Our technician proceeded to ask him was he a slave.

I just heard about it today from one of the technicians who was there. Her and the other technician said something to him and told he was offensive and definitely upset. She told me in general conversation. No one brought it up to the owner and as far as I know, the custodian didn't say anything to his boss or anyone at the facility. The custodian did give him some history on slavery in Liberia, etc. This definitely could have been a different outcome.

I'm really upset by this for a lot of reasons. I want to sit on it for a minute before brining it up to my boss because I just can't believe that he asked this man was he a slave. Also, I sometimes feel my boss doesn't take things as serious as he should. The person who asked the question is from another country and I know he has said some questionable things in the past. I also know before I started, he used a racial slur (the N word) and one of my other co workers did bring it to the owners attention. Not sure what came out of it because I wasn't an employee.

How would you handle this?

FMLA question: if someone turned in a FMLA request was told 2x it’s incomplete and still took the time off (no call no show)…… isn’t that job abandonment? FMLA was never turned in correctly to be completed [TX]

Wondering how you all conduct your background checks? Seems like no matter what we do, there is always a problem.

We use a background check company that alllows us to send a link via email to the candidate for them to fill out their own information. There is a state-run database that also needs to be checked, and it also sends the candidate a link. I then send the candidate an email letting them know they will recieve these two links, and giving them instructions and tips on how to fill everything out. The recruiter tells them over the phone the whole process.

9 out of 10 times there is something that goes wrong. They didn't get one of the links. They didn't add their drivers license. They didn't add their education. They didn't fill either out at all!

How do you deal with it!?!? It is infuriating to go through all these issues. It takes so much time away from other things i could be doing. Seems like we are constantly hand-holding for these grown adults!

Hey everyone, I just updated HRJobsRemote.com with 290 fully remote HR jobs - hope you will find it useful.

Until next time, eat less sugar.

Halloween Hangover Edition

I know training programs and their success rates will vary a lot depending on the company, industry, and role type. Just sharing some of my thoughts here and wondering how others tackle similar challenges.

When it comes to employee training, I keep seeing low completion rates being a major roadblock, especially when employees don’t see the immediate value. What’s been helpful to encourage more people to actually finish their training, and beyond that, how are folks measuring the real impact in terms of skill retention and on-the-job performance?

Would love to hear how others in HR are approaching this—especially when the focus is on practical application, not just ticking boxes.

I am HR manager for a non-profit (employing more than 50 people).
We had open enrollment back in May 2024. So our HR dept sent out information including a benefits overview document and information on how to log in and enroll.  I have an employee who didn't do open enrollment back then because they were covered through their partner's plan.  In July, they found out coverage under their partner's plan was ending so they wanted to enroll. That's fine - I sent them our benefits overview.  The thing is, it was a different document with different plan and pricing information than the one that was included in the May communications about open enrollment.  That's fine, we cleared that up.  I sent them a new document and told them that was correct - it even offered lower pricing than the one I first shared when they asked :-).
So they sign up for everything in August, I send them a summary of their benefits, and say these benefits will take effect Sept 1.  In September, they logged in to their system and didn't see all the benefits they were expecting so they asked me why. I told them our system did not catch that they were not eligible for all the benefits they signed up for, but they can sign up for those benefits at the next open enrollment.  I sent them a revised summary of benefits.  It's only minor benefits within the larger plan that are missing so I am not sure what the big deal is, but now the employee is really upset.  The value of the missed benefits is only around $1000.  Do they have a case if they sue us?  I think I've been good in the email communications with them - I have always presented them with new/corrected information, and never admitted any fault or wrongdoing or anything as a mistake.  
The company is in California and the employee is in Pennsylvania.

I have been stressing myself out so bad over this test. I purchased my exam along with the HRCI prep course back in June and have been studying on and off since until this month where I’ve really been trying to round out my studying.

I honestly didn’t like HRCI’s prep course that much and supplemented with Sandra Reed’s 2024-25 guide and pocket prep. A lot of the HRCI Prep content is very high-level and some of the practice questions aren’t found in the study plan. So far, I’ve been liking the book content, but Reed’s book has obvious errors. Pocket Prep is good for on-the-go studying, but I feel like I’m missing something. I’m taking my first practice test this weekend, so we will see where I land so I can focus on my weak areas. I also bought the 2018 PHR/SPHR book, and will be using that for review, but it’s several years old. I also know that she’s coming out with a new book this year, but unfortunately it’s after my exam date🤨🙄

I’ve rescheduled my exam twice already and can’t again unless I cancel and repurchase the exam, but I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or what worked for them the last couple of weeks.

Hi,
My previous experience of 10 years has been in the Tech industry and I found success hiring through paid major job boards like Monster.com and others. I could post jobs and review applicants who responded, send mass emails before weekends to have plenty of applications to work on during the following week and I also used to cherry-pick candidates on linkedin while also posting jobs (unpaid) on linkedin.

Now, I work in a construction company and use indeed where I do not have a database to search the desired candidates, I can post jobs and pay for each posting to get applications. For an entire year, I have been able to fill positions like journeyman electrician, plumber, mechanical positions, supervisors, and a few apprentices via indeed, but I don't always get many applications on indeed. I never got any response on linkedin, not that I have many connections in the industry.

I just wanted to hear from someone in the construction industry to see if there is a better way to hire or a preferred, more successful hiring platform for this industry.

Thank you!

We're currently updating our HR and payroll systems at our company, and I have to find a payroll software or app that can integrate easily with our existing Human Resource Information System (HRIS). The idea is to make all our processes fast, easy to manage, and accurate, especially as we scale.

Basically, I'm looking for a payroll system that not only handles the basics - like salary calculations, tax withholdings, and compliance reports - but also has features like real-time data syncing with our HRIS. This should let us manage employee information, benefits, and time tracking all in one place without manual entries or disparities between systems.

I've found a list of payroll sites and software, both paid and for free, at payrollprices.com, and I've looked over some of their features...but I still need other people's recommendations to get a good one that isn't too complex OR too superficial (I'm okay with a paid one). Something that could also be used from a mobile device and is user-friendly would be preferable.

Thank you!

Following up on the HRM/HRBP post I have been wondering how you view the following job titles. I realize this sub is mostly American/Canadian, I am from The Netherlands myself and the below titles seem to be used however companies please and are completely interchangeable to one another depending how a company describes them.

• HR Generalist
• HR Advisor
• HR Officer
• HR Specialist
• HR Associate
• HR Coordinator

I've worked at companies where the Generalist ranks the lowest in the hierarchy, below Advisors and Specialist. And I've worked at places where the Generalist is the highest ranked even over an HRBP. How would you rank these job titles with your experience?

Hey all! I'm an HR Generalist with 6 years of experience, a SHRM-CP, and a MBA. I'm looking to level up my HR career, and I'm considering the more legal end of things. I looked into it a bit and I'm not sure what would be a better fit for an HR career, a MLS or a JD. Some websites seem to suggest the MLS, but other HR/legal experts I know have pursued the JD. I don't know anyone with an MLS and so I don't feel I can't trust that it is a solid route to go.

Does anyone have any experience with obtaining a Masters of Legal Studies or a Juris Doctorate? And did you wish you went for one over the other?

I started working for a healthcare startup nonprofit. I really care about the mission so I was really excited. I’ve come from a startup org that blew up into a major company so I was excited to start supporting the development of this organization. But 4 months in and I’m feeling pretty defeated.

I’m half of the HR team for a company of 100+ people. The nature of the company is supporting a skid row-like neighborhood. Staff need a lot of support, and there seems to be a lack of resources. Or perhaps the resources are not distributed in the best way.

There is a ton of interpersonal conflict. There is a ton of burn out. There is a ton of enablement of poor behaviour. And zero systems in place.

I came in as an HR coordinator and was still pretty excited, because I have the skill set to build the infrastructure very much needed. But now I’m finding myself creating the recruitment process, onboarding process, training materials for staff, while also building out policies (like accountability agreement and corrective processes) and dealing with frequent interpersonal staff conflicts. I’m also hiring (creating job descriptions, posting them, reviewing applications, coordinating interviews, creating interview questions, interviewing, and being the POC for applicants). I’ve streamlined this process using various softwares (which they didn’t have in place before me) and we’ve been able to hire at 200% more efficiently because of it. But while I’m building out the job and doing the job, I’m dealing with the consequences of an organization that has been operating on zero structure.

The lack of structure and transparency (due to poor organizational management and quick growth) is leaving staff feeling burnt out. Upper management seems to have no problem with people working well outside their scope. I have a strong business background so I know what changes need to be made and what I need in order to implement changes, but I feel unsupported. There is no expectation for me to build structures and systems and processes, but HR is directly impacted by the lack of them. This means I am doing the job of a HR coordinator and HRBP.. and kind of a business analyst too. Everyone has been extremely grateful for the work I have been doing. But my lead is leaving, meaning for at least some time I will be the only HR person for this company. I hate the feeling of having the entire organization being so dependent on just me in order to function, yet I don’t have the resources to create the infrastructure that will both support me as well as the organization.

I have expressed the importance of having this work being done, and they are happy with me continuing but up until my Lead’s resignation notice, there has been resistance about hiring more HR staff. Now they are wanting to hire someone to fill her role (which they seem to be hoping will be me). There’s talks of maybe adding one more HR person, or possibly an HR/Admin person.. meaning that person will be focused on other tasks in addition to HR.

I was contemplating applying for the lead role, because clearly I will be doing the job alone until we hire for it, so I might as well get paid. But I’m already feeling so sick of the place.

I have a lack of trust in upper management, although they seem respectful and polite. Some examples include:

• I requested some branding be built out because it’s insane we are the size we are and are inconsistent with our branding. They asked me to connect with the graphic designer, and the graphic designer didn’t know what I was asking for so I had to spell out what explicitly is required for branding and send some examples. This person who I was hand holding then sent a quote of approximately $10,000. I expressed that I could do a lot of this (and did some of it within minutes, which would’ve saved a couple thousand dollars at least), and that it may not be the best idea to hire someone with such a lack of experience. Upper management insisted on wanting to give this person the opportunity to gain experience.
• I used the word policy when explaining the policies I was developing and was told by upper management that that word sounded too much like “policing” and we didn’t want to do that here. Despite there being several policies developed prior to my starting. It was weird, and I said that’s fine we can use the word guideline or framework, but that is besides the point.
• I was showing upper management an example of how the new hiring process operated and created a fake job description titled “HR’s helper” to showcase how it would look in action. Upper management stated they know I would like some help (even though that’s not what I was asking for, I was just showing the system) but that we didn’t have the resources for it.
• I created a request for budgeting some tools in that have a free version, but would be better off with a paid version ($25/month/person - mostly just me using it, maybe another HR person). They said if I could stick to the free version that would be best.
• someone had an interpersonal conflict and went to upper management. Upper management directed them to speak with an administrator person (who is not HR) because HR was not present. It appears to be very common to expect people to act outside of their scope.

These are just a few instances in which I feel like I’ve faced some resistance to the changes I’m trying to implement.

With my lead leaving, it feels like the entire company is depending on me to stay some version of functional. I feel like that shouldn’t happen, no business this size should be dependent on one person in order to successfully operate. It’s a major indicator that your business model is not sustainable and not functional.

We continue to hire people because people are burning out and there is too much work. But we don’t have any systems in place to actually adequately support staff. It feels very much like chicken or egg situation.

It feels like we need a reorganization of the company and it would be best to pause any nonessential work and band our resources together to create resources that will allow for us to be sustainable. But this should be a call that upper management is making. It seems that upper management is more interested in production than production capacity.

Part of me feels like my lead hired me in relief that he could step away from this, although he hasn’t expressed that. A part of me wants to leave too just to show them exactly how the way they are operating is not sustainable. But I need to find another job first.

And I am being paid an HR coordinator salary.

My review is next week, and from what I've read, it's great!

I've been with this employer for a year, and frankly, I've provided a lot of value to the organization since day one. I'm glad that's reflected in my managers words.

I'm currently an HR Generalist and enjoy the work I'm doing. I have autonomy, my boss respects me and my opinion, and I am hungry to learn and continue streamlining our processes, etc.

Based on my review, one of the things my boss wants me to start doing is mentoring the other two women in my department improve their HRIS skills, process flows, etc.

I love that kind of stuff and it's where I shine. I'm hoping he doesn't want me to supervise anyone because that's not something I'm interested in doing.

IF it comes up, how can I say that without shooting myself in the foot?

I have a former employee that accused their former leader of racism, ableism, and Islamophobia. I have asked her for months (including way before she left the org) to give me examples or witnesses, really anything. and she has failed to do so. I am not saying I believe any of the charges, but I am still trying to do my due diligence in rounding out the investigation just incase we get an OCR, EEOC, or MDCR complaint. Any suggestion with how I proceed? I have plans to talk to her former coworker, I have questioned the leader, and even the leader's supervisor.

The title sounds easier said than done...

I am an HR Manager at an organization of about 60 employees. We just let go an employee for poor performance and lack of initiative to manage their staff, amongst other things.

The conversation ended as with the organization offering severance and PTO payout that will carry the employee through the remainder of the year. It was agreed to be considered a resignation rather than a termination. There are also long-standing politics in regard to the relation of employee to the others within organization

I want to send out a memo to staff, but struggle to find the right words considering it was an abrupt change in staffing. Any advice would be helpful.

Been working on employee training programs lately, and it's honestly a mess. Getting people to actually complete the training is like pulling teeth. It feels like the content is either too boring, irrelevant, or just not clicking with people. And then there’s the issue of actually getting those who do finish to apply what they learned—if they even remember it at all.

It’s tough when you’re trying to create something impactful, but the methods in place just don’t seem to be cutting it. Endless slides, compliance-heavy videos… it all feels like it's more for checking a box than genuinely growing skills. There must be a better way to make training engaging and ensure people get something meaningful out of it, but right now it feels like a black hole of effort with very little return.

Just sharing these thoughts, as it's been an ongoing struggle, and I know I'm not alone in this.

I am based in the USA, but have colleagues in Spain that work for our sister company. They live in an area that recently experienced devastating flooding. Thankfully, they are all physically OK and accounted for. Unfortunately, many have lost all of their belongings, their vehicles, etc. or have extensive damage to their homes.

Many of our US based staff have requested to donate money that would directly assist our colleagues in Spain. As of now, there is no GoFundMe or anything set up. Our company president has asked human resources to look into creating one.

My question to the group is this…Has anyone else done something like this when staff experienced a natural disaster? Did you use GoFundMe, or is there a better way to go about it? I want to help, but also want to be careful about collecting funds.

Thanks!

Hi - We are a company of 15 employees looking for a HR system for the below tasks. Any recommendations?.

1. Manage Employee Data
2. Leave Management
3. Onboarding Tracker
4. Time Logging against a client/project
5. Performance Evaluations.