Christine Assaf

How Are You Getting Employee Feedback?

We’ve heard the phrase over and over again (and the numbers always seems to change): For every customer that complains, there’s 10 others who didn’t complain. Company’s develop customer support centers, customer service call in lines, and feedback evaluations to get the complaints and be able to do something with them. (Have you gotten a [...]

April 30, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Tips for Uncomfortable Conversations

by Christine Assaf

In my years of management and HR, I’ve had my fair share of uncomfortable conversations. From telling an employee they are showing their nipples to telling my boss they’re under investigation for physical assault – there’s never a lack of them. Each conversation creates butterflies, demands preparation, and I’ve never been thrilled to do any of them. They are [...]

March 19, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Wanted: Collaboration Expert

by Christine Assaf

NPR had a piece on Yahoo’s recent “death of telecommuting”. If you haven’t heard, the tech-giant has recently rid it’s entire company of “working from home” and is forcing its workforce back into the office. Yahoo stipulates that good ideas can turn into profitable business strategies when their employee base interacts. And not just “in meeting” interactions but while [...]

March 5, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Adam and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Communication

by Christine Assaf

I once had an employee (we’ll call him Adam) and Adam was a “slacker”. He was downright lazy, never completed things on time, always goofing around on the job, and never worked on stuff we wanted him to work on. Despite this, Adam was brilliant. In brainstorming sessions, group work, or just in talking to him, you [...]

February 19, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Translating Employees

by Christine Assaf

If you’ve ever heard of the book Men are From Mars, Women are Venus, then you know what I mean when I say that people sometimes speak two different languages. This got me to thinking about bosses and their employees. I’ve often had exit interviews where employees spilled their guts about the misdoings of their [...]

February 5, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

What You Need to Know About Inappropriate Interview Questions

by Christine Assaf

Some common questions I get from hiring managers are which questions you can “legally” ask and which ones you can’t. Most are shocked when I say that you can legally ask any question… only to see disappointment on their face when I say “…you just can’t discriminate based on the answer, so it’s best not to ask.” What’s [...]

January 22, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Having a Lazy Employee Is Your Fault

by Christine Assaf

Dear Managers, I’m tired of you labeling your employee as a”lazy employee” First off, it’s name-calling and in some cases (where it goes too far) it could be constituted as bullying. Do you have an employee that’s not cutting the mustard? Try out these tips below: Tip #1: Stop Calling Them Lazy So maybe you’re not calling [...]