Every year, smoking kills 48,000 people in the United States and over the course of the past two decades, TV commercials and print advertisements have made it clear of the danger that comes from tobacco products.

Effective marketing has taken smoking from being cool to not so cool. Millennials were the first generation to grow up in the anti-tobacco times and that’s why it should come as no surprise that 83% of the “Me Generation” disapprove of smoking cigarettes. However, Millennials and now, Generation Z, have adopted an alternative method to cigarettes that has become the latest fad.

Over the course of three days at the Annual LeadingAge Meeting & Expo in Philadelphia, our Gurus met with other Gurus, exchanged ideas, learned more about the booming industry, and further confirmed our commitment to helping the Senior Care Industry improve people processes, mitigate compliance risk, and control labor costs. We also had the pleasure of handing out our “Relax, We Goat This” t-shirts, stuffed goats, (sorry, we left the real goats at home) and had the opportunity to visit with some of our awesome clients.

HR can be a very challenging, yet rewarding profession. HR Gurus have the ability to help their people reach their full potential through guidance, opportunities, support, and more while also helping an organization grow and succeed. However, there are many difficult and strategic business decisions that may need to take place in order to take an organization to the next level.

Whether it be on the business side or the people side, there are always obstacles to overcome and lessons to be learned. For this segment of Ask an HR Guru, we asked, what is the biggest HR challenge you’ve had to overcome?  

According to a Gallup study, an alarming 85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, costing U.S organizations between $450-$550 billion in lost productivity each year.

It’s no secret that high performing teams continuously exceed expectations and deliver tremendous results. High performing teams consistently go above and beyond by contributing new ideas, delivering first class customer support, and enriching an organization's culture that ultimately leads to a better bottom line. 

We know that a lot of effort, thought, and strategy goes into building a high performing team, but what are the secrets to creating such a team that everyone strives for? In this segment of Ask an HR Guru, we asked HR professionals: What’s the secret to a high performing team?

In general, most of us try to avoid getting fired by following laws, company policy, and practicing common sense. Common sense between right and wrong in the workplace should be evident- don’t punch your boss, harass coworkers, steal, etc.

However, not everyone is blessed with common sense and happen to make some very unforgiving mistakes. Here are three dumb ways that can get you fired from your job:

Although the percentage of American adults that smoke has dropped significantly from 20.9% in 2005 to 15.5% in 2016, smoking-related illnesses are still costing businesses more than $156 billion in lost productivity each year.

The awareness on the negative effects of smoking has drastically increased over the past decade. As a result, many organizations have taken action like creating designated smoking areas, enforcing a smoking distance from the building, and even so much as to becoming a completely tobacco free campus in order to promote a healthy working environment. 

When we think of superheroes, we often think of fighting villains in eccentric costumes with ungodly powers. These costumes and powers are cool and entertaining, but it’s the way superheroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman use their superpowers to perform genuine acts of kindness that turn us into raving superhero fans.

Same is true in the workplace. HR superheroes are behind the scenes heroes that work tirelessly every day to deliver greatness to their people, workplace, and community. Although they may not be able to fly or become invisible, HR Gurus possess superpowers of their own. In this segment of Ask an HR Guru, we asked HR professionals: What’s your HR superpower?

Since 2016, skilled nursing providers have been required to submit Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a way to drive industry standards and ensure high quality care for patients.

CMS has been very clear from the start that PBJ data would eventually affect a providers’ Five Star Quality Rating, but it was never certain when that date would be, or how PBJ data would replace the current method of data capture.

Wouldn’t it be great to know ahead of time what questions you were going to be asked in an interview?

In a recent post, we outlined the 6 questions that a candidate should never ask during a job interview. This week, we wanted to hear the interviewing process from an HR perspective so for our segment, Ask an HR Guru, we reached out to a diverse group of HR professionals to ask: What is your go-to interview question?