This month, PCG Founder Jennifer Patterson joined a panel discussion on mitigating substance abuse risk in the workplace, hosted by USI – St. Louis during SAMHSA's National Prevention Week. The conversation covered everything from reasonable suspicion to return-to-work programs, and one theme kept surfacing: that most organizations' drug and alcohol policies haven't kept pace with how work happens today. Here's what employers need to know. The 1998 Handbook Problem Here's a true story: We...

We hear this all the time. “Why can’t our HR system just do this?” “Can’t we just use ChatGPT for it?” Fair. You’ve already invested in a HRIS platform and AI can write almost anything at this point. So, a handbook feels like something you should be able to knock out and move on from. And you can. It just usually doesn’t work the way you think it will. A handbook gets treated like paperwork. It’s not. It shows up in the weird moments. When a manager pauses and thinks, “Wait… what do we...

Last month we attended the Small Business Monthly Luncheon honoring this year’s Top Women Business Owners. I left feeling really proud. Proud of the women in that room. Proud to be a previous honoree. Proud to sit at a table surrounded by strong women who are building real businesses and carrying a lot more than most people ever see. We sponsored a table this year, and I was so grateful for the chance to invite some of our clients, peers, and mentors to sit with us. At one point I looked...