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The latest in meeting room design trends

Edward Belleville Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

It’s 2019 and, still, meetings are seen as a necessary evil, and the rooms where they take place are regarded as being in a vacuum. Apart from the parts of our day we are forced to sit inside one, we avoid thinking about meeting rooms. They are like the storage room nobody wants to tidy. But meetings, whether long or short, big or small, are crucial to any business. To function well, companies must provide employees with well-designed daily spaces for collaboration. Here is an overview of the key trends in meeting room design.

Cafeteria plan benefits: A primer for employers

Grace Ferguson Business Management, Services & Risk Management

According to a 2019 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, "employers were more likely to increase offerings in all benefits categories than to decrease offerings." Further, employers believe that healthcare benefits are the most important to their workforce. However, healthcare benefits have a long-standing reputation for being expensive. To alleviate the cost burden for employees, in 1978, the U.S. Congress created Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code. Benefit plans established under Code Section 125 are known as cafeteria — or Section 125 — plans. A cafeteria plan enables employees to pay for qualified benefits, such as group health insurance, on a pretax basis.

Start writing your annual leadership letter now

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

A leadership letter can be many things: an inspiring speech at a year-end event; a note sent to each employee; or a detailed account written as an act of reflection. Regardless of the audience, annual letters are a valuable tool for leaders. Meanwhile, the fastest quarter of the year has begun. The slower, longer days of summer have given way to workweeks shortened with frequent holidays and evenings interrupted with activities, engagements and annual events. That is exactly why we should start writing our leadership letters now.

How social listening can boost your digital marketing power

Lisa Mulcahy Marketing

Do you know how to incorporate social listening as part of your marketing strategy? If not, it's time to start harnessing its power. Social listening is the practice of crawling the internet to locate all the mentions of your brand on social media platforms as well as your brand's related keywords. This way, you can very specifically target the consumers who will buy what you're selling quickly and easily. To do it most effectively, you need a strategy of do’s and don'ts that will maximize your time, marketing focus, and your campaign effectiveness. Use the following science-driven tips to do it right.

A 3-step onboarding process

Robert C. Harris Association Management

Every volunteer leader wants to do a good job. Without a board training process, directors begin their journey at a disadvantage. Directors need access to information. Some of it will be in written form, such as the governing documents. Some will be association lore, such as the guiding principles. And some will be practical advice, provided by the experienced leaders. Develop a three-step approach to onboarding. The investment in a comprehensive, efficient process pays off in volunteer satisfaction, better governance and outcomes.

3 ways to stop good employees from leaving

Simma Lieberman Business Management, Services & Risk Management

I was recently hired to coach a COO who was having a hard time retaining people on his team. When I interviewed his current direct reports and people who had left, I heard the same complaints. "Working for him is like a guessing game. We don't know what our roles are or what we are supposed to do." We presented our findings along with our recommendations for change. Below are three reasons employees were leaving, along with ways to get them to stay.

US payrolls add 136,000 new jobs; unemployment rate drops to 3.5%

Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk Management

In September, U.S. nonfarm payrolls added 136,000 new hires versus 130,000 in August, as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, a 50-year low, compared with 3.7% in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 5.8 million unemployed workers in September, down 275,000 from August. Despite the record low rate of unemployment in September, average hourly earnings for all workers on private nonfarm payrolls dropped a penny after climbing 11 cents in August, according to the BLS.

It’s true at work: No good deed goes unpunished

D. Albert Brannen Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Life is full of sayings that can apply to work. Some of them might include: "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," "turn the other cheek," "walk the high road," and "kill them with kindness." But, unfortunately, this employment lawyer has learned that when it comes to work, one adage always seems to ring true: "No good deed goes unpunished." It often seems that the more breaks an employer gives an employee, the more often the employee asks for a loan or pay advance, files a charge of discrimination, or starts a campaign to get a union into the workplace.

3 reasons not to be a workplace of choice

Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk Management

"A genuine focus on core values" and lots of opportunity for career growth are just a couple of the highlights of two of the most well-known workplace of choice surveys. Both reflect a number of other common characteristics, but the commonalities boil down to this: employees want to feel heard, valued and empowered. Yet, as great as that all sounds, here are three reasons employers may not want to focus on being a workplace of choice.

6 signs that it’s time to call it quits

Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk Management

When is it time to quit your job or sell your business? It’s not an exact science with a finite timeline. It’s as precise as "buy low and sell high" in real estate or the stock market. You don’t want to leave before you’ve hit your apex, but you also don’t want to ignore the signs that you’re becoming the no-longer-funny comedian or the pathetic boxer past his prime that everyone pities. Here are some signs that it’s time to move on.

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