The HR Answer Book: An Indispensable Guide for Managers and Human Resources Professionals

MBaumann, Cosmetics Executive, March 14, 2006, An Essential Desktop Reference A smart,informative, entertaining guide to a serious subject...filled with FAQs that you sometimes didn't even know you needed to ask! Quickly became an everyday reference that I turn to again and again. Set up in an extremely reader-friendly fashion (perfect for those of us who don't have a lot of patience or time to spend looking things up) that makes sense of the language of HR. Once I read it, I bought it for all the managers in my team and recommend it to everyone who has ever encountered an uncomfortable HR situation (or hopes to avoid one!)

I am the director of a nonprofit agency; our current budget does not allow for such luxuries as a director of human resources. Over the years I have collected a number of books and manuals on organizational management, some of them costing hundreds of dollars. Yet I get more use out of this book than all the others combined. As the person responsible for hiring, firing and much of what comes in between, I find that it's well organized, free of jargon and covers a wide range of topics. It is the ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure; the advice offered is consistently based on respect for employees, good communication and corporate compliance.

It has been a few years since I felt the need to peruse any resource material for helping me find the right people. In a previous career I had hired and managed between 80 and 100 people at a time. But I thought I might want to brush up on what changes have transpired over the last 15 years and I couldn't believe what I learned from this book. I picked it at random from the endless supply of other choices and I was very glad I did. These two writers hit upon everything that I thought I knew and opened my eyes to the changes that I was not aware of. To be honest, I wasn't planning on reading the entire book but thought I would hit upon the "highlights." I actually thought I knew enough to skim it but little did I realize, I knew very little. And even though I don't run a large office like I used to, I found the book to be an easy read and will keep it on the shelf as a resource guide. I tend to bend the pages of my books for the passages that I know I will refer to in the future and this book looks like I have had it for years with the bent corners. I don't think I will find it necessary to look beyond this guide in the future. My hats off to these two writers who very much know their subject and will be "indispensible" to me.

This book is a terrific guide through pretty much every HR issue you will come across. The writing is straightforward, it's well organized, and it explains complicated subjects in a way everyone can understand. Most importantly, it gives useful, practical tips and suggestions. It's a must-read for entry-level HR professionals and anyone who manages employees, and it's also a great reference for more experienced HR professionals. It will be especially useful to those in small companies who don't always have immediate access to subject matter experts in every area of HR. I strongly recommend it.

What a great tool for a small business person to use in regard to day-to-day HR issues. I've found it to be practical and real-world without all the legal jargon. We're using it as a reference book for our supervisory training class. Lots of insight for the HR generalist as well.