May 22, 2013
I recently shared an article about telecommuting, asking whether this was a dying phenomenon. This article from Ragan Communication is related, so I wanted to share it with you.
 Do you have flex hours?Do you have standard/set hours?Do you telecommute?
Share your experiences with us. Let us know what works and what doesn’t. |
|
INTERNAL
4 reasons employees shouldn’t have set hours
It’s time to bring your company into the 21st century, where work isn’t about clocking hours, but accomplishing goals.
Employers erode employee trust by strictly enforcing when they must complete their work. This puts employees on a fast-track to feeling less autonomous. And nothing kills productivity like an environment where employees feel forced to work.
Here are four reasons to end set working hours.
Continue reading …
|
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | 
Employees, Management, Culture | Tagged: Employment, Work, Telecommuting, United States, Ragan Communication, Marissa Mayer, Best Buy, Working time | 
Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
May 20, 2013
Recently, I shared an article with you titled “Reasons NOT to have co-workers as close friends“, and now today is a rebuttal from the same source site. I guess the jury’s still out on this topic, and it can be pretty complicated.
Please share your thoughts and experiences about having friends as co-workers. Leave a comment below.
Related article: Questions to Ask Before Family and Friends Become Business Partners
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Culture, Employees | Tagged: Arizona, Arts, Closing argument, Friends, Murder, Rebuttal, Television, United States | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
May 16, 2013
Reposted from Tina Del Buono’s PPM Blog:
Lack of respect in the workplace happens more than we would like to think. The hope would be that people would demonstrate respect for one another when working together.
Often times the lack of respect shown by employees to each other is due to the fact that they are not shown respect by the management personnel.
Management staff need to lead by example and respect should be at the top of the list.
In the workplace when leadership shows respect in the following ways, it promotes employees to show respect for each other also;
1. Respect employees personal lives and lifestyles.
2. Show respect by actively listening to employees and responding to what they are saying.
3. Show courtesy and respect during all encounters with employees.
4. Make sure employees are compensated accordingly for the work they do. You show that you respect their value to the company.
5. Let employees know that how their performance is valued by you and the company.
These five points may seem like “no brainers” but it is amazing how many employees say that these points do not happen in their workplace.
Showing lack of respect on all levels in the workplace should be addressed in the company’s progressive discipline policy and adhered to by everyone. When respect is not shown for one another, the workplace becomes toxic quite fast.
Why is disrespect is allowed in the workplace?
How is disrespect handled in your place of employment?
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Culture, Employees, Leadership, Management | Tagged: Employment, PPM Blog, Respect, Tina Del Buono, Toxic workplace, Violence and Abuse, Work, workplace, Workplace Discrimination | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
May 10, 2013
I personally think telecommuting is great. It gives me a day or so a week to concentrate on work without getting bothered or distracted, while doing so in a comfortable environment. However, see the article below from Ragan Communications.
 |
INTERNAL
The costs and benefits of telecommuting
Two high-profile companies recently halted their work-from-home programs, but data show that employees perceive the practice as boosting productivity—and their sense of freedom.
|
Do you telecommute? Do your employees or coworkers? What do you think of it? Is it great? Is it getting abused? Please share your thoughts and stories with us.
Like this:
Like Loading...
2 Comments | Culture, Employees | Tagged: Best Buy, Cost–benefit analysis, Employment, home, Marissa Mayer, Ragan Communications, Telecommuting, Work, work from home, Yahoo | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
May 7, 2013
See this article from Ragan Communications:
Close friends at work is a minefield for problems. I’m sure you all have many more reasons for avoiding this, and lots of stories about where it went bad. Will you share some with us? Please change the names to protect the guilty (and innocent)!
Like this:
Like Loading...
1 Comment | Employees | Tagged: Beverage, Break (work), Coffee, Employment, Friends, Psychedelic Furs, Ragan, Ragan Communications, Shopping, Work friends | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
May 2, 2013
Recent articles from Ragan Communications:
|
|
|
 |
INTERNAL
7 Myths about working from home
Telecommuters watch TV, end the day early, and surf the Web all day, right? Wrong. This telecommuter sets the record straight.
|
|
|
|
|
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Coaching, Employees | Tagged: Employment, Faux Pas, Gender, Home Office, Telecommuting, Work, Working from home | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
May 1, 2013
Some good articles from Monster.com:
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Employees, Management | Tagged: Lean Startup, Low-technology, Manage Your Time (Essential Managers), MC Hammer, Monster.com, Project management, Things (application), Time management, Travis Steffen | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
April 30, 2013
Another good article by Tina Del Buono:
Many times a manager’s focus is on getting their team to function like a team. There are hundreds of books that discuss the how to’s of making a team, but even if there were step-by-step instructions the actual task can be quite daunting.
The task becomes more difficult when a new hire is added to an already functioning team. The existing team members can struggle when bringing a new person on board. They wonder what will they be like. Also, what kind of personality, skill levels, and communication skills they have? Will they be able to work together? How will it be possible to train a new person and keep the work load from falling behind?
Managers need to address questions like these before the new team member arrives. Coming up with an on-boarding plan with the existing team will ease the transition.
What about the new employee? Try to look at this from their point of view. Starting a new job is exciting, but also scary. The new person has no idea what to expect. Will they like me? Will I be able to meet their expectations? What if I make a mistake?
A common mistake that managers often make is thinking that the new hire will fit into the team right away. The new hire needs to understand what their purpose is first as an individual employee (player) before they can move into a team position.
They need to be able to understand the answers to questions like;
What is my job?
How does my job affect the overall business?
Who cares about what I do at my job?
Am I doing my job well?
Once the employee has a good understanding of the what’s, why’s, who’s, and how “I am doing” then they can begin to think about everything in the “we” way of doing things.
How are we doing?
What is our job as a team?
How does our job as a team affect the business?
Who care about us?
It is necessary for the employee to understand the “I” before they can begin to focus on the “we.” Giving new hires this transition time will greatly improve the success of easing them onto the team. It will also give the existing team time to get to know them as well.
“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skill of the others.”
- Norman S Hidle
Like this:
Like Loading...
1 Comment | Employees, Management | Tagged: Communication, Employment, Human resources, team, Team building, Understanding, United States, work ethic | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
April 26, 2013
Repost from PPM Blog:
When I notice that one of my staff has a problem they are dealing with, I want to step in to help them fix it (make things better for them). Training and helping them is part of my job as a manager. Stepping in all of the time is not the right thing to do if I want them to grow in knowledge and confidence.
When I think back to when I started out at my job (I was the only employee), I had no one to help me figure out problems that I encountered. I either had to read about them, make a phone call to another manager in the industry or try to figure it out by myself.
Sometimes I did figure it out what was right and sometimes I made mistakes, but when I made a mistake I really learned a lot from it. I would not trade the knowledge of those lessons for anything.
There is something about learning on your own and figuring things out that builds your confidence and makes you feel like you really do have a brain and it works. This is called “on the job experience.”
It is not that I want my staff to struggle, but it is good for them to try to solve the issue first, or at least come up with a solution that they think would work and talk to me about it, before I step in to help them.
My employees are smart people and I trust them. After reading the fable below, I certainly do not want to be the cause of stunting their growth.
The Butterfly Story
A man found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared stuck.
The man decided to help the butterfly and with a pair of scissors he cut open the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man watched the butterfly expecting it to take on its correct proportions. But nothing changed.
The butterfly stayed the same. It was never able to fly. In his kindness and haste the man did not realize that the butterfly’s struggle to get through the small opening of the cocoon is nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight.
Like the sapling which grows strong from being buffeted by the wind, in life we all need to struggle sometimes to make us strong.
When we coach and teach others it is helpful to recognize when people need to do things for themselves.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Employees, Leadership, Management | Tagged: Butterflies, Butterfly, Gardens, God, PPM Blog, Pupa, Recreation, Scissors, Tina Del Buono, Wildlife | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
April 24, 2013
Do you earn or loose your coworker’s respect? Check this post from Ragan Communications and see how many of these things you do.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Employees | Tagged: Law, Organizational culture, Ragan, Ragan Communications, services, Social media, United States, workplace | Permalink
Posted by northjerseysmallbusinessforum
