Holacracy and Employment Law: Part 2

I shared my previous article on Holacracy with the folks at HolacracyOne, which describes itself as “the company spearheading the development of the Holacracy method.”  They were quick to engage in a substantive dialogue.   I also received feedback from others who had some further thoughts.

Based on all of those conversations (and based on my own reflection), I’ve created this Q&A.  It should go without saying that it would not be fair to ascribe anything I say here to HolacracyOne or its employees — it is just my take. And it should go without saying that folks interested in Holacracy should not rely on my outsider’s account of it.

Continue reading “Holacracy and Employment Law: Part 2”

Holacracy, Zappos and Employment Law (LMFTFY)

Holacracy is a non-hierarchical management philosophy that is getting a lot of attention these days.  As readers might know, Zappos recently adopted this ideology, famously eliminating bosses and job titles.  Although not strictly a technology, it has been called a social technology; more relevantly for this blog, it is a model used by a number of technologically-fueled enterprises.

Editor’s note 6/22: see also Kate Bischoff‘s excellent piece from 6/5/15: The Law Isn’t Trendy.

Continue reading “Holacracy, Zappos and Employment Law (LMFTFY)”

Gamification and Employment Law Compliance

Gamification is the now-hot idea of importing game design techniques into any arena requiring human motivation, including the workplace.  There are a number of compliance points around gamification with which employment lawyers ought to be concerned.  My overall perspective is that these are manageable risks — and that gamification can be successfully deployed in the workplace.

Continue reading “Gamification and Employment Law Compliance”

FTC: Employment Law #Gamechanger?

The Federal Trade Commission is deeply involved in the intersection of emerging technology and the employer-employee relationship.  Two such areas merit a closer look: social media endorsements and cybersecurity.  (I have previously written about the FTC on the subjects of big data and IoT in the workplace).

Continue reading “FTC: Employment Law #Gamechanger?”

Robots and Legal Skepticism

When it comes to employment law, I am a robot skeptic.  That is, I think employment lawyers ought not worry too much about robotics.

Continue reading “Robots and Legal Skepticism”

Procuring IoT: Data Integrity and Security

The Internet of Things (IoT) is undoubtedly going to play a major role in the workplace.  Because an employer has a number of critical employee-related interests in securing IoT data, including protecting securing otherwise private employee and business information as well as protecting trade secrets, employment lawyers should be in the conversation with the technology acquisition and development teams as they develop an IoT acquisition policy.  Here is how to create such a policy.

Continue reading “Procuring IoT: Data Integrity and Security”

Anticipatory Disruption and Risk Management

After delivering a recent presentation on disruptive technology in the workplace, my co-panelists and I were asked: what exactly do we mean by the overused word “disruptive?”

Continue reading “Anticipatory Disruption and Risk Management”

Executive Emails: Lessons from the White House Breach

“Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink.”

Prescient advice for the age of data theft from gilded-age politician Martin Lomasney.

Continue reading “Executive Emails: Lessons from the White House Breach”

Employee Terminations: Handle with Care

Employee terminations – whether voluntary or not – must be handled properly in order to ensure optimal risk management.  Employment lawyers cannot leave the technology-related aspects of a termination to others.

Continue reading “Employee Terminations: Handle with Care”