I'm excited to announce the launch of the new and improved "HR.BLR.com" — a significant step forward in our mission to make HR compliance, training, and management easier!

We asked you for ways to make HR.BLR.com an even better service, and the response was terrific. Our customer satisfaction surveys revealed your opinions about the value of our existing features and about what types of content we should add or expand. In addition, we launched site enhancements in beta versions giving you the opportunity to test ideas and provide feedback that contributed to the HR.BLR.com you are using today.

We worked hard to implement these improvements, and the many changes and enhancements you'll see on the site include:

New home page and improved navigation — We completely redesigned the home page for HR.BLR.com, providing you with fast and easy access to the information you need most. During beta testing, you had the opportunity to vote for the home page design you liked the best; the overwhelming majority selected this new design for its clean look and quick access to information. Included on the new home page is HR News, What’s New (on HR.BLR.com), and links to information in the Community section.

New Search Options — In addition to the quick links and information provided on the home page, information can be accessed using the tabs found at the top of each page on the web site. So, no matter where you are on HR.BLR.com, you can quickly access the tools, regulatory analysis, salary data, and other information you need.

Community – We’ve added the HR Forum, which provides you with an opportunity to compare notes with your colleagues and to discuss issues of interest.

Job Description Manager – Every time we ask how we can improve HR.BLR.com, you tell us you want more help with writing job descriptions. In addition to the sample job descriptions available on the site, you can now access and customize job descriptions for more than 2,400 job titles (or create ANY additional ones you want) and access salary data for these jobs as well.

Enhanced Legal Analysis — We're making our plain-English regulatory analysis even easier to use by letting you compare federal requirements and your state’s differences on all key HR topics in a side-by-side view.

More tools — You asked for them, we listened: Over the last year, we’ve added more PowerPoints, speaker’s notes, quizzes, forms, calculators, and other tools on such critical issues as the FMLA, FLSA, ADA, employee discipline, sexual harassment, and HR metrics.

In addition to the new features, you continue to have access to all of the information and support you have come to expect from BLR including our “Ask the Expert” service.
We'd like to give a special thanks to all of you who provided your input by serving as "beta testers." You helped us produce a top-notch, user-friendly site.

I'm proud of the Editorial Department here at BLR. We're fortunate to have an impressive complement of HR attorneys, practitioners, and analysts, all of whom are dedicated to ensuring you get the most up-to-date and accurate analysis of legal developments in the human resources and compensation field. Our product lines are supported by an Editorial Advisory Board that aids us in our ongoing effort to meet your training and compliance needs.

We at BLR, and I personally, take pride in the quality, accuracy, and value of the information provided to our customers, and we are constantly striving to better serve your needs. We are proud of the new "HR.BLR.com," but we are always looking for ways to improve it. Please tell us what you think by emailing me at pcarter-ward@blr.com.

Sincerely,

Margaret A. Carter-Ward
Editor in Chief
Business & Legal Reports, Inc.