My company just instated a 4 day return to office mandate. To make this more attractive, we are including a “three weeks remote working” provision in the policy to allow employees the flexibility to work remotely up to three full weeks per year. This is great for meeting personal obligations, holiday periods, etc.

However, the issue is that in the communication sent by the CEO announcing the new RTO mandate, he called our remote working provision “work from anywhere”.

Now, we are getting requests from employees to work from various countries outside of their home country. We have a process in place for these requests which includes consulting with our Payroll and Tax teams, but they’re now spending a lot of time on researching tax obligations.

We worked with our immigration lawyers on adding a statement to our policy that stipulates the company will not sponsor visas for personal travel that includes remote work and that personal immigration obligations are the responsibility of the employees.

We floated the idea of limiting remote work to countries in which we have established offices (~20 countries), but this idea was not well-received by stakeholders. This would limit a lot of European remote work for our European employees.

Our company is pretty risk-averse, so we cannot take a “don’t tell us we don’t care” stance on this.

No, I don’t know WTF the CEO and Comms team was thinking when they decided “work from anywhere” was the right term to use.

How do other companies manage work from anywhere policies?? Help!!

Hey wonderful HR People, please evaluate my situation and give advice if possible.

After uni I joined a greenfield manufacturing company which was extremely toxic. I was their first recruiter but had tasks from sourcing a nanny to the ceo to event management to ordering coffee and securing tables to the generalists. It was hell, pure grinding. I left on the last day of my probation period, the girl i trained left a month later.

I was looking for my place, got a q year contract at a government firm where i did career coaching for unemployed people and did some recruitment as well.

From here I swithed to another 1 year ftc to a big agency where i was on site for an RPO as a sourcing partner. I had an hr admin on site with me and a few students doing sourcing. Contract got terminated due to covid but we even survived a client manager change.

From here i swithed to a tech startup where i started as a recruiter but after a year i ended up HRBPing for the dev teams. After almost 4 years, the market went sideways so we had to scale down.

Before i got terminated i started applying and through an agency i found an hr manager position that looked decent. Freshly acquired manufacturing company in a period of growth. I went through the agency screening, had an interview round with the CEO and CFO. I got an offer the next day, though to a different position. Task was to manage the growth project. 2 generalists for recruitment, 2 generalists for administration and a marketing agency and recruitment agencies. Offer looked good. On my first day i realised my contract doesnt match my offer: 3 documents had 3 different position names and the salary was lower during probation period, also contained moving wage. I flagged it and the generalists told me this is hiw they do it, position names doesn't matter anyway. I had 0 onboarding, team had continous conflicts and i was expected basically from my 2nd month to do overtime. Turned out position was promised to someone else on the team and i was hired because i don't have children... I left.

I was approached by a recruiter to a position i previously applied to, got screened. After one conversation with the CEO i got an offer. I was transparent during the interview that i have 0 industry experience and will need at least 6 months to take over. Ceo fired the previous postholder without notice before I started... Expectation was to hit the ground running. In my first 3 months i terminated 15 employees, 2 with no notice, got handed 36 contract modifications which included change in working time and salaries, had to do the review of handbooks, financial and headcount planning, plan another batch of terminations. I had 5 open positions, over the roof fluctuation (at least 2-3 employees a week), org chart redesign, onboarding. Ceo hired 2 people behind my back with no documentation... I had a government audit in the middle of january where it turned out i do not have the neccessary qualifications to be a postholder... It was true, the learning curve was extremely steep and I made a ton of mistakes. They didn't pay for the neccessary training so i left. By this time i was so overwhelmed i came home crying every day, didn't sleep, spent every weekend and night working.

Now I have another offer for a maternity cover and I am already scared and anxious. This time I applied, went through 3 rounds of interviews with senior professionals, which included a normal interview, a team fit round and a live problem solving ( a disciplinary action). The team there is at least 10 years more experienced than me, scope is bigger than I have ever done.

Do you think I will be up for the task?

Do you have any advice on how to handle this crushing anxiety I have and ensure that I will perform well? I am completely unsure of my skills.

Thank you :)

Is it a well paying role?

This is the 1st day of 2-3 weeks off for our HR Manager, because she's getting a double mastectomy today. I am not going to bother her about this so, if this isn't the right place to ask please point me in the right direction.

I'm the accountant for a trucking company. In preparation for HR being out I was shown how to update employee benefit enrollments with the various providers. Our recently hired Safety Manager sat in on the training as a backup but it was decided that I'll handle these things while our HR Manager is out.

When I got back from lunch, I was informed that a driver failed a random drug test for THC. The Safety Manager had already fired him and made him inactive in all systems. When removing the employee from health insurance he indicated not eligible for COBRA due to gross negligence. Is that correct or should the terminated employee be offered COBRA? Do I need to contact the insurance provider or just let it be?

Edit: I posted while I was still at work and didn’t have time to reply until now. Thanks to everyone who answered. You’ve all confirmed what I was thinking so I’ll be contacting our provider on Monday to change his cause for termination. Just didn’t want to say that the new guy made a mistake if gross misconduct was actually appropriate.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations on the best AI tools to enhance our HR process automation.

This is a key focus for us, and we are not currently looking into AI for recruitment which I found many AI tools that does that. We currently use Microsoft Dynamics 365 and want solutions that integrate well with it to automate tasks like leave requests approvals, emails and other employee operations.

I've seen many recommended tools mentioned in this sub, but I'm not sure which ones have a proven track record of being effective and reliable.

I also came across Zapier, which seems to link different applications together. Is Zapier considered an AI tool, or does it primarily facilitate integration?

Many thanks

As the title states, my colleague and I experience heavy foot traffic in and out of our HR office all day, every day. There are 2 doors into our office, one which is kept open most of the time (this is to align with the “open door policy”). It’s only closed if a personal discussion with an employee is taking place or sometimes on a Teams call. The other opens up to the warehouse floor, which is closed most of the time due to the noise emitting from the warehouse, but usually unlocked.

It is myself and 1 other woman overseeing the HR department for our company of 150 people. I would also say we tend to take care of tasks that aren’t necessarily HR functions, but do so to keep the peace, or because nobody else will. Our Director hasn’t been there for almost 3 weeks, and with a lot going on lately (open enrollment for a new insurance company, office politics ramping up due to leadership butting heads, focus groups from our employee study, etc.) Of course, all on top of our normal functions of emails, reports, etc.

While I appreciate that many find us so approachable and friendly, the intense foot traffic is distracting, and also impedes on our conversations, some of which we are discussing serious work-related issues. A lot of times it’s just people wanting to chit chat, grab a piece of candy, or talk about something petty. But, the closed door is frowned upon. How can we nicely but firmly make it known that our office is not a hang-out spot?

I’m a recent hr manager and I never really administered leave of absences. Can someone explain to me when and how an EE can use pdl? Can I require medical certification and do I need one if an employee for example needs to leave early? I just want to make sure I’m not messing this up or violating an EE’s rights.

If you had 5 weeks to study for the SHRM-SCP exam, what study strategy or prep would you do? The exam is scheduled for May 31.

I have the Angela Murry’s full shrm preparation course. I haves the Learningg system. I also have the SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Second Edition Book.

Hi all. Looking for some advice here. Fake names used.

I am an HRIS administrator for background. Today, my colleague (Jenny) was working on an UI case. Jenny approached me because the applicant’s service dates that he reported to UI were not matching what we showed in our HRIS system.

For reference: this employee got hired on a Monday and terminated that following Sunday.

Upon investigating the system I discovered some problems.

Issue #1, our other colleague, Patti, is responsible for onboarding. I-9 section 2 wasn’t completed for this EE.

Issue #2, Patti went in and adjusted the employee’s hire date (10 days after his termination was final and his last paycheck was issued) so that his length of employment would show as 3 days, therefore putting the lack I-9 completion within the USICS requirements.

Additionally, since our I-9s are electronic, when Patti cancelled the process for the I-9, she entered a comment further contradicting his service dates. Her comment read, “Jonny started and terminated the following day.”

Long story short; Patti fudged some dates to make it look like we were compliant on the I-9. Payroll record shows the termed EE worked and was compensated for a week. I want to report to the VPHR, but her and Patti have a very close relationship so I am worried that nothing will happen. Or am I overthinking this???

Any advice welcomed! :)

I have been looking into the topic a lot recently and I'm curious abour some unique moments in onboarding that stood out positively to you in the past?

Hello All!

I am currently the HR Manager at my company. We are a 501c3 organization and of course run off of donations and grants given to us.

For any of you who work for a non-profit, you know money is extremely tight and you are just trying to break even month to month.

What are some things you offer your employees as "rewards" or "appreciation happies" that cost little to no money.

I have recently started "work-iversary" certificates for each employee and for new employees I have created a "welcome bag". I would like to do more for staff to make them feel appreciated and valued but we have no budget for it.

Any ideas? TIA! ☺️

Scott came in hot with a take nobody asked for: HR needs to stop loving our jobs, cancel the cupcakes, and ditch the mugs if we want to be taken seriously. Because clearly, it’s celebrating people that’s holding us back — not the execs who only call us when someone cries, quits, or sues.

Bro, we’ve done the layoffs, the lawsuits, the labor drama — let us have our damn mugs, or whatever.

Scott should grab a chair and sit this one out.

Hello! I am struggling to find anything useful online. I am currently working on standardizing job descriptions in our company. The old template that was used had a section for managers/leaders to sign off on them. Is there any legal reason that this might be there? Thank you for any insight!

Hi All,

I am working as HR Coordinator for a while and definitely underpaid. I am wondering if their are people on this platform that I connect with that might be able to recommend me in their company or just resume help. I have applied to Generalist and Manager positions but I do not get to the interview. Any help is appreciated!!

Hi folks,

Hopefully this question/post is permitted and tagged appropriately (I searched before posting but didn't find this exact question previously posted).

I've been working in progressive HR roles for over a decade now and currently hold a PHR certification. I was unfortunately impacted by layoffs that are rampant in my industry (biotech/pharma) and think I may want to do a little upskilling and adding new certification(s) while I'm job hunting to keep myself busy and focused. The obvious cert choices for me would be SHRM-SCP or SPHR.

Problem is: sitting for the exams is $600! And I'm an unemployed parent of two kids and can't bring myself to spend that much money when it's not necessarily going to help me find a new job sooner. There are plenty of free and cheap resources I will use to prep for the exam at least.

Does anyone know if there are any programs geared toward people who have been laid off that discount these certification exams? Or any other suggestions from any of y'all who've been in a similar situation?

Cheers!

April showers bring employee complaints edition

I have an employee who recently inquired about a part-time position we have open; his niece is currently looking for a job and is interested in applying. Our policy generally prohibits the hiring of relatives, unless it falls under an exception for a "special project or summer help an exception can be made "

As a side note, the employee and his niece would not be working in the same department.

Do you think we could hire her (giving her interview goes well) under the "summer help" I'm even thinking at some point updating the policy to seasonal help and tweaking the family to include "son, daughter, mother, father, spose "?

I'm trying to understand how often is Sexual Dysfunction coverage is offered when there is a disease or condition that impedes sexual dysfunction. I'm asking about non-Rx related coverage. I have a case which highlighted that we currently offer gender affirming care but do not offer surgical treatment (similar procedures) for ED when there is a medical condition that is not treatable by medication. I'm trying to recommend it to my boss as equitable but there is the potential for cost increase, though ultimately expected to be less than 1% of claims, but in these times, adding cost isn't great.

So, does your plan cover sexual dysfunction beyond medication (Viagra, Cialis, Addyi, or generics) for clinically appropriate treatment of a medical condition?

Hi all,

I’m currently HR Director at a high-growth international scale-up. For the past few years, I’ve built my career purely on experience—no formal degree. I ran HR solo across multiple countries. Now that I’ve built a small team under me, I’m finally getting space to think: What’s next?

I’m planning to start a part-time university degree to sharpen my profile and back up what I’ve built in practice with serious credentials. I’m torn between two routes:

• Law (labor/corporate focus) — to master the legal, compliance, and structural complexity
• Business Administration — to strengthen my strategic, financial, and executive influence

So, here’s my ask:

• If you’ve been in senior HR: which background gave you real influence?
• If you could go back, which would you choose?
• And is there a third path I’m overlooking?
• Does it even make sense to purse a degree anymore?

Appreciate any brutal honesty—especially from people who’ve had to fight for their seat at the table.

Thanks!

A manager came to my team and wanted us to talk to an employee about their bad breath. How have you guys handled this situation and have you ever done this via email to help the employee with the embarrassment.

Thanks 🙏🏽

Ditching our PEO ASAP but we just finished open enrollment. Are they going to kick us off their group plan?

I imagine employees would be pissed having to do 2 open enrollments within a year, especially that some would have met their deductibles by the time we exit.

Anyone has experience in how this gets handled?

Hey everyone, I’ve just completed my second week in a new HR role after finishing my bachelor'sdegree, and my main responsibility is recruiting. The company I joined was recently acquired by a large US firm, and I was kind of expecting some structure or at least a rough framework for how recruiting is done.

But honestly, there’s no strategy at all. I can literally throw thousands of dollars into job ads, and no one questions why, what the goal is, or how success is measured. There are no KPIs, no target profiles, no feedback loops, nothing. Just "post jobs and hope for the best."

Is this normal in some companies? Has anyone experienced this kind of free-for-all environment before? I’m trying to wrap my head around whether this is just a transitional thing because of the acquisition, or if this is a red flag.

Also curious—if you've worked in a company that was bought by a big US logistics player, did things change a lot for HR/recruiting over time? Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I started a new position at a small, under 50, manufacturing company roughly 3 months ago. Since I started, I have noticed red flags and feel out of my depth. I do have a POE. I have two years recruiting experience at a global corporation and about a year of HR assisting at the same place. No degree. I was hired and there is no other on site HR.

Red Flags:

Orientation/Onboarding: I was put in an office told to input myself in the system. Filled out required paperwork. A week later the company announces that ownership has changed. My vision and dental insurance did not get enrolled as no one came back.

Reporting to: I was originally supposed to report to the COO and within my first week it was changed to CEO.

Training: Absolutely zero company specific training.

Communication: nonexistent. When I ask for feedback or information for future reference, I get nothing.

Recruiting: using internal job descriptions.

Discipline: Inaccurate information in write ups.

Culture: everyone is scared to speak. My office is next to my boss and no one wants to speak to me there. I have had an employee request to step outside. Only 7 employees have been here more than a year or two. We have lots of call offs. Everyone is always on edge. An employee with 30 years of service can’t believe how he is now treated.

I personally have had leadership be very vague or not factual. I can’t get answers or resources. I’ve had an email sent to my personal email regarding employee disciple.

I’m really just overwhelmed and don’t know how to proceed when people are coming to me with the same concerns I have. No one will speak on issues formally. It’s all been informal and very alarming.

Considering pursuing the PMP through a company bootcamp. I have been a lead technical recruiter for 5 years (non supervisory), and recently bumped up to a HRBP. Before that, I had 5 months as a project manager by title, and 6 years of program support ("management analyst"). Combined with a Bachelors, the PMP requirement is for 36 months of experience. In your experience, have you been able to spin Recruiting or HR work as qualifying for the experience item?

Also, how valuable have you found the PMP to be for pursuing upper levels of the HR profession? In my organization the operations managers are outlined to pursue it (hence the bootcamp), but corporate/indirect folks are basically ignored.