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The problem with nice employees
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementThough I have never been accused of being nice at work, my sister suffers from chronic niceness. She recently joked if she ever had to terminate someone, instead of firing them, she would likely end up baking them cookies and finding some way to share her job, à la Norm Peterson from "Cheers." While I would love to work in a place full of people like my sister, I am not sure how productive it would be. Here are some problems with nice employees and a few ways we figured out to address them so everyone wins.
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Age discrimination harms everyone, but it’s hard to prove
Patrick Gleeson Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementYou may think you have a realistic understanding of discrimination against older workers, but it's likely you underestimate how widespread age discrimination in employment actually is. For example, "front-facing" jobs in industries that involve in-person contact with customers often go to younger workers whose presence suggests that the company is forward-looking and innovative. Contrary to its reputation for liberal political and social ideas, Silicon Valley is another prominent offender. But it's less well-known that this kind of discrimination exists in nearly every industry in America.
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Infographic: Lifestyle creep and how to avoid it
Safiyyah Bazemore Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementGetting a promotion or raise when you’ve been hard at work on your career is one of the most rewarding feelings. For all the potential good that comes with increased earnings, there’s also danger in upping your spending to match your additional income. This phenomenon, called lifestyle creep, begins to happen more and more until expenses that were once considered to be luxuries or splurges suddenly feel as if they’re necessary. To tell whether you’re in danger of lifestyle creep and to learn more about how to combat its negative effects, see this infographic.
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A zero-based committee process
Robert C. Harris Association ManagementWhen managing association finances, most people are familiar with the concept of zero-based budgeting. With a zero-based budget approach, every expense must be justified before adding it to the budget. The purpose is to reduce spending by looking at where costs can be trimmed. For an association, the justification for the budget should be closely tied to the strategic plan. The same process can be applied to committees.
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Making the ‘Snap’ decision to double down on authenticity
Brie Ragland MarketingAuthentic. Transparent. Real. Those are three words we’re not really accustomed to seeing these days, what with fake news, secret backgrounds and hidden motives. Yet, for the savvy businessperson, these same three words could be the ace in the hole when it comes to successful marketing. In a world where everyone is hedging their bets and playing it safe until the odds are more promising, now is the time to double down on authenticity.
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How will the Bipartisan Budget Act affect businesses, government?
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementNow that President Trump has inked the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, what does it mean for businesses and the federal government? For one thing, the BBA 2019 suspends the national debt limit until after the 2020 election and hikes spending by $324 billion over two years. "That makes it easier for Congress to do something to help small businesses if it wants to," Frank Knapp Jr., head of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, told MultiBriefs in an email. "We'll see."
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US economy adds 164,000 new hires; unemployment rate stays at 3.7%
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIn July, U.S. payrolls added 164,000 workers versus job gains of 224,000 in June, as the unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 6.1 million unemployed workers in July, close to the same number as June. The number of long-term unemployed persons decreased 248,000 in July from June. The employment-to-population ratio rate stayed nearly the same in July versus June, the BLS reported.
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How to role model good choices for your employees
Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementI am not advocating parenting your employees. But some of your employees may not have had the best role models in their life, so they have undeveloped critical judgment skills and poor decision-making with an inability to predict the consequences of their behavior. I worked with a young lady once who had barely been on the job for one week before asking for a day off to go shopping with her mother. That judgment is bad enough, but she confided to me that her mother had advised her to simply call in sick and not risk asking for the day off!
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Why and how to actively retain and recruit introverts
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementQuiet and introspective are not words any of us tend to use in our job postings. Instead, we focus on "high-energy" and "dynamic" team players. Doing so, however, can leave out a significant pool of qualified applicants. In this employee-friendly market, limiting our pool of potential candidates helps no one. Instead, consider these simple steps to understand and actively recruit introverts.
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Infographic: Has the gig economy jumped the shark?
Brian Wallace Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIncreasingly, workers may have realized that gig jobs cannot replace traditional work. Many workers do not earn a living wage, according to their median monthly income. And from 2014-18, pay for even the most active participants on Uber and Lyft dropped significantly. Now, some gig-providing companies have employee turnover as high as 500% each year. With top companies in chaos and workers jumping ship, is the gig economy doomed? Learn more about the problems facing the gig economy with this infographic.
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