Up in the Air, a movie loosely based on a book by the same name, stars George Clooney. You’ve read the reviews; now you can see it at your local movie theater. What a way to end 2009 and a decade of clear uncertainty about who we are as human beings and Americans!

As reported by the Los Angeles Times (click here, here, and here), 2009 ended with gun violence in the workplace. A former employee of the gaming commission near San Diego burst into the executive director’s office and killed him with a shotgun. The former employee then committed suicide.

Previous posts on this blog have warned against firing an employee without first giving the employee a warning. It’s the fair thing to do. But does an employer always have to give a warning before termination?

With a lot of boomers nearing an age that used to signal retirement, a Beatles classic from their Yellow Submarine album gives us much to think about.

Anger management is important in all workplaces. Let’s face it. We all get angry. Oddly, we may get more angry during the holidays than at any other time. I mean, there’s sometimes more stress than usual. Progressive employers provide anger management counseling for their employees through Employee Assistance Programs or on their own. There’s always [...]

Image isn’t everything, but as Execupundit explains, it’s worth developing, nurturing, and protecting. It’s also something one needs to keep in perspective.

Cultural Offering has a thought-provoking post about resolutions for the new year. Check it out.

To close out the year, we return to one of our reliable favorites. As is often the case, a quote from Benjamin Franklin is worth sharing, because it makes you think long and hard:

I’ve frequently posted about dress codes and appearance policies at work. Some of these posts have been based on articles by Christina Binkley, style editor for the Wall Street Journal. She closes out the year with an article entitled “The Year of Dressing Ridiculously,” made so by the recession, extreme efforts to get people to [...]

The New York Times reports that lawsuits resulting from the recession are finally hitting the courts in big numbers. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the kind of litigation not included in this report.