Mark Clark

01 Jul 25

After-Action Analysis

Early in my HR career, a mentor saw that I was stressing over what should have been a simple task. “You get one point for developing a project from scratch and two points for building on what has already been done,” he said. I learned that to execute any assignment,…

01 Jul 25

KeystoneHR Newsletter Index – 2024 to Date

KeystoneHR Presidents Letters – Index 2024 to Date The following were published via KeystoneHR.com, Mailchimp, and LinkedIn. By free subscription to KeystoneHR, you can receive future such letters as they are published. 1. KeystoneHR Best Practices List for 2024 (03/10/24) 2. How to Expertly Write HR Policies in 7 Bullet-Points…

16 Jun 25

Identifying and Managing Hi-Potentials

High-Potential (Hi-Pos) employees, like cream, often rise to the top. Its likely you know several in your field of vision, but do you know them all? If you agree measurement is the first step in improvement, it makes sense to formalize your process for not only identifying Hi-Pos, but also…

03 Jun 25

Medium Business Value Package

KeystoneHR is happy to announce another Value Package. Value Packages are comprised of a small number of popular, grouped policies offered at substantial discount. The example below is focused on “Medium-Sized Business,” and similar packages are available for Small and Larger sized companies. This Value Package price is $75. That…

20 May 25

Flying Fur and Gainsharing – A Self-Funding Employee Bonus

I can spot a bad idea from a mile away—especially when someone who really shouldn’t be making big decisions skips the whole “talk to stakeholders” step and slams the “Implement by Tuesday” button. HR often comes up with some truly great initiatives. But every now and then, they hatch a…

07 May 25

Strategic Initiatives Value Package

I’ve had a number of bosses I would’ve done most anything to help – and still to this day. One was the SVPHR of an $8B HVAC manufacturer. I was the only employee she ever had that created their own job, she said. I was appointed HR Director of Special…

06 May 25

Converting Termination Data to Strategic Advantage

Some employment turnover is good. If somebody leaves, hire a better replacement. Exit interviews are a necessity, even though being assigned to conduct one may not be the highlight of an HR employee’s day. From a broader perspective, grouping results of several exit interviews may present strategic possibilities that should…

29 Apr 25

Company Violates Own Policy and Shells Out $1.9M

After four years, the Wrongful Termination case was approaching trial date. An Expert Witness was brought in to testify on behalf of the fired employee. Depositions by witnesses and HR leadership confirmed the company disregarded its own policies in the termination. The next day the company settled out of court…

16 Apr 25

Termination Appeal and Miracle Monkey Tape

Between digging around for a roll of miracle monkey tape when you have an inch of water in your boat and eagerly looking forward to another labor attorney phone call, my money is on the tape. I like labor attorneys well enough, but on average none of them are free.…

01 Apr 25

Increased Dialog Reduces Problems

Why not turn the tactical exercise you expect of your supervisors anyway into a strategic directive that WILL have a positive effect on your operation? To learn how read on. Inheriting a Fortune 500 operation with high turnover, absenteeism, and poor morale, my new boss asked that I “Fix it”.…