Alcohol use among employees or their family members can be an expensive problem for business and industry. Alcohol abuse is linked to issues such as lost productivity, absenteeism, injuries, fatalities, theft, low employee morale, legal liabilities, and increases in healthcare and workers' compensation costs.

Violence has unfortunately become an all too common problem in the workplace. As an employer it is important, and your duty, to do what you can to prevent and prepare for a violent workplace incident. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 70% of U.S. workplaces do not have a formal program or policy to address workplace violence. An effective program requires the following elements: prevent, policies and procedures, and training.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Mike Cahill, President & CEO of Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana. We hope you enjoy Mike’s wisdom and perspective.

One of my favorite quotes is as follows: Do you light up the room when you walk in or when you walk out?

A short story to set the stage. An extremely successful local businessman shared the so-called secret to his success. He talked about the positivity, support, belief, and 'can do' attitude his wife always brought to the table as he pushed forward building his business. Especially, when things were not going the right direction or big mistakes were made. I loved how he put it: "She does not have many cloudy days."

Stealing, specifically reimbursement for business expenses, is an unfortunate reality for many organizations. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), expense fraud accounts for 14.5 percent of all reported occupational scams. Fraud affects all industries. No company is immune.

National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is upon us. This year’s theme is Work Zone Safety: Everybody’s Responsibility. With warmer weather comes roadwork season. As we hit the road, it is important we are aware and alert while driving in work zones. This protects workers and ourselves.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Tara Nisenson, leadership coach and HR consultant. We hope you enjoy Tara’s wisdom and perspective.

Many organizations are recognizing the power of involving much larger and diverse groups in generating innovative solutions to corporate dilemmas. Some company cultures react well to the initiative, others are much more cautious. Building a sustainable culture where everyone is happy to share ideas and contribute to company challenges can be difficult.

National Public Health Week (NPHW) is an opportunity to celebrate the power of prevention, advocate for healthy and fair policies, share strategies for successful partnerships, and champion the role of a strong public health system. Despite advancements in public health, Americans live shorter lives and suffer more health issues than people in other high-income countries. Below are the pillars of public health:

Group captives continue to be a viable alternative to traditional casualty insurance programs for construction firms across the country. Once reserved for firms with annual revenues more than $100 million, captives are now available to firms with annual revenues of $25 million – and in some circumstances less.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Charles Rogel, Senior Consultant & VP of Product Development at DecisionWise. We hope you enjoy Charles’ wisdom and perspective.

I work with many organizations to measure and improve employee engagement. The process typically begins with the collection of employee feedback through an engagement survey. The survey includes about 50 items measuring perceptions of the job, team, supervisor, and organization overall.

Most organizations score low on top-down communication, cross-department communication, and responding to employee ideas. Questions about teams or supervisors generally score high with some pockets of under-performing groups. While action planning, executive teams usually become pre-occupied with poor organization scores and begin brainstorming ways to improve the employee newsletter, conduct town halls, or plan the summer party.

But when we look at the drivers of employee engagement, a different story appears.

On March 5, 2018, the IRS made several adjustments based on inflation amounts due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017 tax reform) and Rev. Proc. 2018-18: