We all have our guilty pleasures, and one that continually draws me in from my DVR is “House Hunters International” on HGTV. Each episode, viewers watch as the subject of the show gives up their life at home and travels thousands of miles to an international destination in order to buy or rent a new home or apartment. Those of us playing at home are sucked in through a game show angle, trying to predict which of the three choices will be the winner.This show makes me very angry for several reasons.They never seem to choose the “right” house.When the agent says it’s “a little over your budget.”... view article details

Let Common Sense Dictate Your Sick Leave Policy Depending on the philosophy your company takes, the issue of sick leave can be pretty contentious. Do you keep your sick days separate from other time off? Do you hire someone specifically to track it? Or do you lump sick leave and vacation days into one big bucket labeled “paid time off?" Do you allow workers to bank sick time and get paid for it, or is it “use it or lose it?” And that’s not even considering short- and long-term disability for workers with chronic illness. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? But the good news is there’s a solu... view article details

Tips for a Smooth Transition When Implementing Organizational Change Within Your Company Winning the support of workers when introducing and executing organizational change is essential. If the employees are not holistically involved in the organizational change process, they are likely to show resistance in acceptance and implementation. Intuitive change communication is the cornerstone of initiating a flourishing change program. In order for businesses to avoid conflicts and poor responses as a result of mismanaging change, it should be communicated in advance, and throughout all phases of t... view article details

How to Hire Good Employees: Save Time During the Hiring Process by Spotting Red Flags Early Today's job market is very tough; there are many more job hunters than available jobs. The good news for businesses is that it's a buyer's market. But at the same time, it can be overwhelming to sift through a mountain of resumes flooding your inbox or the resume repository. That's why you need to have an eagle eye for scoping out the best candidates. Here are some things to look for when embarking on your employee selection process: 1. Quality Cover Letter A quality cover letter can tell you a lo... view article details

If Employee Retention & Productivity is Down, Maybe It's You and Not Them Let’s face it: knowing whether our employees love us or hate us as managers isn’t always high on our priority list. As long as they get their work done, it doesn’t matter whether they count you as their bosom buddy and think you are the greatest supervisor they’ve ever had, right? Wrong. Studies have shown a happy workforce has a direct correlation with high productivity. If your staff members like their jobs and feel you shine in yours, they are more likely to feel committed to their work. The reverse is true as ... view article details

Target These Types of Workers & Reap the Benefits Hiring rates are expected to increase, but many organizations are thinking hard about the types of people they’d like to add to their teams. Skills are obviously important, but even the most qualified candidates could be ineffective if they don't have the right cultural fit to further the company. What kind of candidates will make the best fit? Here are eight great employee types hiring managers should target: 1. This person doesn’t have to be the best or the most talented, but they are always willing to take a chance. They aren’t afraid of mak... view article details

“Please don’t take this offer” reads the first line of Amazon’s “Pay to Quit” proposition. The rest of the page explains how current Amazon warehouse employees can pocket cold, hard cash if they walk away from their posts and never look back. “Never looking back” is really part of the deal – employees that accept “The Offer” can never work at any Amazon facility or subsidiary again in their lifetime. We’ve all heard of companies offering bonuses to their employees to incentivize certain behaviors (referring employees, staying at the company for amount of years, meeting sales goals, etc.), but... view article details

Let’s face it. People get to a point in their careers when they want to see more dollar signs. If your chosen profession isn’t paying as handsomely as you’d like, it might be time to consider a career change. This kind of professional shift typically means going back to school, but the return on investment may be worth your time. Based on Salary.com data, we've provided 10 jobs that tend to pay out over $75,000. We’ve also included job descriptions for each one so you can start to evaluate whether a career change may be right for you. 1) Web Software Developer: $78,653 A Web Software Develop... view article details

"Insourcing" Means Employers Are Finding It Less Expensive to Have Employees Stateside It's a familiar story: labor costs get too high, so management decides it will be best, in the long-run, to send jobs to another country. Only this time, the story has a twist ending. It is China – long considered an oasis of exceedingly cheap workers – that is losing jobs and the United States that is gaining them. Over the past two years, several major and not-so-major companies that had been outsourcing work to China have decided to bring some of the jobs back to the U.S. The trend -- often called "reshor... view article details

Employers do not owe you a response to your application for a job. Just because you send a company a response to its job ad, you are not entitled to a response. The term ‘resume black hole’ refers to the frustration some people feel when they don’t get a response to a job application. It would be really nice if people told you ‘no’ quickly. But, you know how hard it is to actually say ‘no.’ There is nothing pleasant about telling you that you didn’t get the job. Many employers believe there is a legal risk in telling you ‘no.’ The combination of fear of saying no and fear of making legal err... view article details