It is that time of year again. All of the back to school sales are in swing. Crowded aisles of school supplies at the local stores stacked with the endless supplies that are needed for each child. The anticipation of who is going to be in classes, and of course the excitement of being able to drop the kids off …
Setting Expectations
Have you ever worked for a manager that was great at coming up with new and exciting projects and ideas? Each time there was a new project you got overwhelming excited and passionate about your job. Then they told you their timeline and you realized that they had completely unrealistic expectations of how quickly that project would be able to …
Does Anyone Have Time for a Vacation?
Its summer! Pools are open, kids are out of school, and we are right at the cusp of vacation season. We have talked in the past about how important it is to encourage employees to take vacation, about the pitfalls of burnout and the advantages of well rested and motivated employees. This week I am talking to you though, the …
Unpaid Interns or Indentured Servants?
Don’t assume that hiring interns mean free labor for the Summer. As the summer season heats up, college and high school students are busy interning in many businesses. And there’s a lot of misconception out there about the “yippee, I get labor for free” mentality that we see within companies all too often. It’s true, you have the opportunity to …
Gladwell, Maslow, and the Unintended Organizational Chart
So, the subject sounds pretty deep this week, but before you start wondering if we’ve taken leave of our senses – we’re talking about your organization and all of its structure – or lack thereof. You know; your unintended organizational chart. It happens – you’re going along someday thinking you’re the coolest boss in the free world, when all of …
Go Big or Go Home – The Big Five Mistakes in Growing your Business
We’ve all been there. You know, that moment when you have to make the decision to play in the “bigs” or continue to do things the way that you do them now so that your competition can leave you standing in their dust. My advice? For heaven’s sakes, go big or go home. Nobody invests their whole being into creating …
Of Buzzwords and Buzzards
Straight talk trumps pretention every time So this week, and because we all need a dose of good humor now and again, we decided to switch it up and address (in a humorous way) the buzzword code-words in business these days that we published a couple of years ago. Seems that in business, times may change but buzzwords go on …
How and Why to Test for Drugs
For those of you who aren’t aware 4/20 is commonly referred to as national marijuana day. This is widely said to be either because 420 is the police code for a person smoking marijuana or because it was the day Bob Marley died, however both are incorrect and neither is relevant to this post. What better day than 4/20 to …
To Google or not to Google
I love Google! You put in what you’re looking for, like a human resources policy or form and voila!!! There it is, now all you have to do is fill in your company name and you’re good to go…right? WRONG!! Here’s the thing, does that policy or form you just downloaded represent the core values that you want your employees …
Are your HR practices helping or hurting your relationship with your employees?
Spring is finally here, along with the sunshine, flowers and bunnies. Of course that also means it’s time to throw open the windows and get your spring cleaning under way. While your house could probably use a good once over I am actually talking about your HR practices. When was the last time you gave them a good once over? …