Employment Trends

Jobs: What’s the ROI to Create or Save One?

By Zane Safrit - Dec 15, 2008 - 19 Comments

Jobs: What do they cost? What's it cost to create a job...or to save a job? What is the ROI for that job? Members of the US Senate voted against a $14 billion loan for the Big Three automakers. There are roughly 830,000 jobs tied directly to the Big Three car makers. 230,000 workers are … Read More

Reassuring Employees During Difficult Times

By Anita Campbell - Nov 4, 2008 - 11 Comments

A growing number of large corporations and Web 2.0 technology startups are making news with lay offs or reductions in force (RIFs). We've even started seeing schadenfreude-like news reports by people who somehow seem gleeful about other people losing their jobs. (I think that is misplaced fear … Read More

Success Factors Helps You Bring Out the Best in Your Employees

By Anita Campbell - Oct 9, 2008 - 13 Comments

Success Factors provides a human capital management solution. What that means is that they provide tools and systems to help employers get the best performance from their workforces. Want a tool to align each employee's goals with your company vision, with a dashboard to help you see at a … Read More

Can Company Gossips Serve to Inspire?

By Zane Safrit - Oct 7, 2008 - 9 Comments

Yes. Absolutely. Unequivocally. Yes. Let that sink in for a minute. Company gossips can serve to inspire. They can motivate. They can bring positivity and connection and trust and respect to a company. I know. I've seen it happen. And, you can see it happen in your own company with a … Read More

Manager-Employee Miscommunication

By Mark Anderson - Oct 3, 2008 - 11 Comments

I play a lot of word games. Boggle, Scrabble, Word Thief, Quiddler, Perquackey, etc... So I pay a fair amount of attention to how words are formed, and how I can make them longer to score more points. That's how this cartoon came about. I was brainstorming gags, wrote the word "seminar," … Read More

How to Keep the Best: Welcome Them with Open Arms

By Zane Safrit - Sep 15, 2008 - 12 Comments

Well-begun is half done applies to all of life's challenges. And for building employee loyalty, keeping the best employees, it's a perfect truism. I wrote last time that keeping your best employees really comes down to the culture you create at your company. You want a corporate culture where … Read More

How to Keep Your Best Ones

By Zane Safrit - Sep 3, 2008 - 11 Comments

On earlier posts here, I've offered some advice, tips and resources, I've found useful in: Recruiting the best potential candidates to interview; Interviewing thoroughly, consistently, with the goal of hiring only A-Players. Let's talk about how to keep your best ones, your best employees … Read More

Software for the Virtual Office: Mimicking the Physical Office

By George Langan - Aug 6, 2008 - 15 Comments

More and more vendors are introducing Cloud platforms and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings to bring people together online. Don't let industry terms like "Cloud platforms" and SaaS confuse you, however. All this means is that people are using software applications that are Web-based, to … Read More

Building a Team with Contractors and Freelancers

By Deborah Brown - Aug 4, 2008 - 14 Comments

What makes a great team? Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." That quote got me to thinking about the 21st Century version of a small business team. Usually we think of a work team as involving … Read More

What To Do After Hearing: I Quit!

By Deborah Brown - Jul 26, 2008 - 14 Comments

"I quit!" What do you do when those words spring from the lips of an employee you've relied upon? Your first reaction may be to think "don't let the door hit you ...." Or -- you may be inclined to shout "I'll double whatever they are offering you!" Instead, stop and ask yourself "what … Read More

How to Hire the Best (for the least expense)

By Zane Safrit - Jul 17, 2008 - 9 Comments

I wrote last month on Tips and Resources to Hire the Best. You'll hire the best only when you recruit the best. As some readers suggested, and as Coppola did with Godfather II, I'm going to go back to the beginning, the start of the hiring process. And that's recruiting. These are the … Read More

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Hiring Family

By Deborah Brown - Jul 7, 2008 - 10 Comments

B. Smith of Wealth and Wisdom, recently put a lot of thought into a touchy topic: what to do if your family asks for money. His article leads with a common misconception about entrepreneurs: family members think that just because we are in business for ourselves we must be loaded. He … Read More