That’s the thinking behind a new product developed by furniture-maker Steelcase — it’s a treadmill with an attached workstation.

Dubbed the “Walkstation,” it lets employees work on a laptop or paperwork while walking on the treadmill. The idea was developed by researchers at the Mayo clinic, who say that walking at a 1 mph pace is enough to burn 100 calories per hour without being too distracting to stay busy.

It’s a good way for companies to encourage exercise and try to get a handle on health care costs — however, with a base price of $4,500 each, employers will have to make sure they’re getting their money’s worth.

Rules and regs abound about what documents HR needs to keep, and for how long. To meet the requirements, more companies are storing records electronically — but are they applying the proper safeguards?

It’s easy to get tripped up. A myriad of federal and state laws have their own record retention rules, which creates a lot of confusion and causes many mistakes by employers. Here’s a quick rundown of the five biggest areas to watch for:

1. Personnel files

Keeping an adequate personnel folder for each employee is key to defending against lawsuits and comply with various employment laws. Make sure you include:

• a resume
• an application for employment
• interview notes
• references and background check records, and
• attendance records, documentation of disciplinary actions, etc.

How long should you hang on to those documents? The rule of thumb is one year after the employee leaves the company. That way they’ll be available in the event of a lawsuit.

2. Hiring records

The following hiring-related data must be retained:

• Equal Employment Opportunity Form (EEO-1) — Employers with at least 100 workers (or 50 workers and more than $50,000 in government contracts) must fill out this form every year. (The next deadline is September 30, 2008). The preferred filing method is the EEOC’s Web-based system, which will retain the data for 10 years.
• I-9s — Many companies keep the I-9 forms separate from the general personnel file so they be accessed quickly — during an audit, companies usually need to give the feds every employee’s I-9 within three days of the request. The forms must be kept for either three years after the employee is hired or one year after termination, whichever is later.

3. Payroll data

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to hang on to:

• basic payroll records for each pay period (for three years), and
• the information on which the pay is based — i.e., work schedules, time sheets, wage rates, and records of any paycheck deductions (for two years).

4. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Under the FMLA, employers need to keep for three years:

• dates leave was taken (including hours for intermittent leave)
• employees’ notices and requests for leave, and the employer’s response (including e-mails from employees and managers discussing the need for leave), and
• the employer’s leave policy.

Also, employers must keep records of disability accommodation requests for one year.

Note: Privacy laws require that doctor certifications and other medical records be kept in a separate file. If stored electronically, medical info must be held in its own, password-protected database.

5. State regs

Many states have laws requiring longer retention periods than the feds. In those cases, employers must follow the state regs.

Make sure you check with your state to be positive you’re meeting the right requirements.

For more information on HR record retention, check out the report “Record Retention Dos and Don’ts: What to Keep, What to Dump” at www.pbpexecutivereports.com.

The latest state to pass a law requiring employers to use E-Verify is South Carolina. The new rule gives companies a choice: participate in the program and use the system to verify new hire eligibility, or only hire employees with valid driver’s licenses or state ID cards.

Employers with 100 or more employees must comply by July 1, 2009. Other companies have until July 1, 2010.

The law also imposes stricter penalties on employers that hire unauthorized workers, ranging from a $100 fine to permanent revocation of the license to employ workers in South Carolina.

The state joins others — such as Missouri, Arizona and Mississippi — that require all companies to use E-Verify.

Hardly. Employees need to understand that what they do publicly can have a big impact on the business they work for.

The blogger in question was an Emmy-winning producer of CNN’s morning show, Chez Pazienza.

While recovering from surgery, Pazienza took to blogging, and his bosses at the network weren’t happy about his online prose.

Upshot? Pazienza got fired.

Seems the CNN employee handbook had expressly forbidden its staff from writing for a “non-CNN outlet.” His blog was one.

Do companies need blogging policies?

Make sure your employees know what the company rule is about blogging. If you don’t have a rule, you and your managers might want to consider drafting one.

To read more about Pazienza’s trials and tribulations, read this.

Earlier this year, Reserve Solutions, Inc., launched a service that allows employees to link a debit card to their 401k funds — allowing them to electronically withdraw money set aside for an approved 401k loan.

The general consensus: It’s a terrible idea. Few employers offer the service, for obvious reasons. Most think it would be too easy for people to make impulse purchases with money they should be keeping for retirement.

Employees seem to like the ability to withdraw from the funds, though. An estimated 20% of people have gone through the hoops and paperwork needed to take out a 401k loan. Still, financial experts don’t predict the debit card idea will ever sit well with employers.

How about you? Would your company ever consider giving employees this option? Let us know by writing a comment below.

A lot, according to staffing agency OfficeTeam. In a recent survey, 69% of managers said it’s common for their company’s employees to work off-site. Furthermore, 82% said telecommuting is likely to increase in the near future.

What’s it mean for HR?

On one hand, offering a work-at-home (sometimes, or all the time) can be a way to keep employees and job candidates on your side, instead working for companies who will let them stay home.

On the other hand, a lot of employees may be asking to telecommute, and it’s often impossible, due to factors like a person’s duties, managers’ opinions or company culture. Companies need to be careful when coming up with policies and prepare for complaints about unfairness.

What about your organization? Do you allow telecommuting? Have employees suggested it? Leave us a comment and let us know how you’ve handled the situation.

Most companies rely on general job boards for at least part of their recruiting. But how reliable are they?

Not very, say some of the people using them. When asked if most online job boards provide a “quality service” to candidates and companies, more than three quarters of HR pros answered “no” in a recent survey conducted by recruiting expert Jim Stroud.

What are the biggest problems? The boards’ pricing strategy was a big one, as well as the difficulty of searching through resume databases:

• More than 65% said paying for each post failed to get good results at a decent value. Most would prefer to pay only after they found a hire.
• About 55% “strongly disagreed” that resume searching uncovers quality candidates (another 20% “moderately disagreed”).

Get the most out of job boards

If satisfaction is so low, what are companies doing instead? Many have started posting to free job or classified sites (like Craigslist) or using niche sites that cover only specific industries, job types or geographic areas.

That said, the general boards are still popular. When the survey respondents were asked what they do when they have to advertise an opening, the top choice was — you guessed it — “post on general job boards.”

So what can companies do to get more value out of those tools? Avoiding these common mistakes should help:

• Writing a laundry list of “requirements” — Hiring managers sometimes fail to distinguish between skills employees can learn on the job and the qualities and experience they must already have in order to succeed. If the list isn’t whittled down to the necessities, a crop of great talent could be turned away before they even finish reading your ad.
• Being too general — The reverse is also true: Writing a job description with too few qualifications will only result in a flood of undesirable candidates. Help the manager find a balance between keeping too many people out and letting too many in.
• Putting zero thought into titles – To help job seekers find your listing, it’s important to choose an appropriate title. It should include variations on the key words that candidates are likely to search with. For example, using both “registered nurse” and “RN” in the heading of an ad will help increase your search engine exposure.

What has your organization done to improve its online recruiting? Let us know by leaving us a comment below.

Computerworld writer Mike Elgan recently summarized the alleged threats. Here’s his list of the ways your cell phone is might be trying to cause you serious physical trauma:

• Cancer — This one’s been tossed around for a while but got a second wind recently when the director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute sent a memo asking employees to limit cell phone use because of the possible cancer risk.
• Traffic accidents — Even though many people would agree that using a phone while driving raises the risks, there are plenty of cases of accidents involving drivers talking — or even texting — while behind the wheel.
• Child development problems — A survey by the Danish National Birth Cohort claims exposure to cell phone signals (before and after birth) raises the likelihood a child will suffer from hyperactivity and other behavioral and social problems.
• Lightning strikes — Russian officials say cell phones are to blame for an increase in deaths caused by lightning. (The theory is that a cell phone in use will attract the bolt.)

Does any of this mean cell phone users (i.e., most likely you and all of your employees) are at risk and should stop?

It depends on who you ask. You can read Elgan’s take here.

The main problem: All of the claims are anecdotal — there aren’t any real numbers to back them up.

1. The passive aggressive cc:

This is when you send a copy of a message to someone who doesn’t really need to see it — in order to send a subtle message to the person.

For example: An employee e-mails a co-worker, asking her to do something. To make sure she really pays attention, he copies the boss on the e-mail.

Wrong move, experts say. Only include people who really need to see the message.

2. Hitting — or not hitting — ‘Reply all’

Depending on the situation, choosing whether to “Reply” or “Reply all” can be a big decision. It’s equally annoying for co-workers to get an unnecessary message as it to miss something they should’ve been included in.

The solution: Think before you click. The mistake is usually just the result of someone responding too quickly.

3. All-caps for any reason

This one is well-know, but bears repeating. Putting a word or two in capitals can provide needed emphasis. Writing a whole e-mail in caps is like shouting in someone’s face.

Many employees keep their resumes online at all times — some might even have forgotten to take it down after you hired them.

But if someone’s worked at your company for several years and is just putting it out there now, that might be some cause for alarm.

Basically, you have four options. You can:

• ask the employee what’s going on
• tell his or her manager
• try to keep the employee on your side without tell him or her why they’re getting new attention, or
• do nothing.

Have you ever been in this situation? How did you handle it? If it’s never come up, how would you handle it if it did?

Let us know by leaving a comment below.