Successful Blog

Here is a good place for a call to action.

Doing Away With Tension in the Office

by

When you put a number of professionals together, no matter who they are, at some point in time, tension will arise.

Maybe it’s over a business disagreement, maybe they have some differing visions for the future, or maybe they simply don’t get along.

But the bottom line is that people sometimes have to work together despite these things (or not and that means someone losing his or her job).

So how do you make, and keep, a happy, trusting work place where your employees can be productive and successful?

Think about it when hiring

When you are in the hiring process, think about how new employees will connect and interact with current employees.

If you see personalities that will certainly clash, you may want to rethink that hire even if everything else is top notch. If you get a vibe on different goals or perspectives that you’re not ready for, think twice.

It’s much easier on everyone if you just don’t get there in the first place than to have to deal with personality challenges, misconceptions and not seeing eye to eye in the future.

Notice what is going on

If you see employees struggling to get along or avoiding one another, try to figure out what is going on.

You could meet with each one separately or talk to an unbiased party and get to the bottom of it. It’s not a bad idea to mediate a meeting between those not getting along, and if you are one of them, you need to speak up and try to work out problems before they become unworkable.

If you can get to the bottom of things before they escalate, you could possibly save a lot of turmoil and tension.

Don’t put your head in the sand

If you’ve noticed something, or you personally are having trouble with someone, you need to address it.

Problems sometimes go away, but often they don’t. And if they don’t, you may have much bigger problems to attend to, like people quitting, having to fire someone, losing income due to time spent on this or unhappy customers. Remember, tension needs to be addressed.

Keep a positive atmosphere

Keeping a positive atmosphere in the workplace will help keep these problems to a minimum.

If you can provide a safe atmosphere where your employees feel trusted and have at least one person they can go to, it will help. If your employees feel valued and that even through professional disagreements, you still respect their work and opinions, tensions may be kept at bay.

You, as an employer, can set clear goals and recognize achievements. When you show value, even when tension exists, the positive may outweigh the negative feelings.

Remember there is life outside of work

Sometimes when there is extra tension or someone seems more stressed or difficult to get along with, remember there may be something outside of work going on.

Sure, work at work is priority, but sometimes it’s hard to focus on the positive when some other aspect of your world is falling apart, be it health, family or other external stress. Try to find out if something else is underlying before taking severe measures.

As a business owner, you have lots of roles to play.

Sometimes mediator or confidante is one. Sometimes you have to make decisions you don’t want to.

Keep a constant eye on things, and maybe you can prevent office tensions from escalating too far.

Photo credit: livinggreenmag.com

About the Author: Heather Legg is a writer who covers topics on small business, getting along with others and a company’s online reputation.

Dear American Worker, Are You Pessimistic On Your Retirement Plans?

by

The last few years have brought some unwanted news for many American workers and that does not appear to be changing anytime soon.

According to a recently released report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), worries regarding one’s job security and mountains of debt are leaving many American more doubtful than ever when it comes to their retirement.

The recent EBRI survey (approximately 1,270 workers and retirees ages 25 and up) shows that a mere 14 percent of workers claim to be “very confident” they will have enough money to live a comfortable life during their retirement years. Meantime, 38 percent of workers claim to be “somewhat confident” and 23 percent report they are “not at all confident.”

According to many of the survey respondents, current priorities trump retirement plans at this point and time.

Job Security a Major Concern

The survey shows that approximately 42 percent of respondents claim a lack of job security is the number one issue they are facing, with only 28 percent of workers claiming to feel very confident they will be gainfully employed for as long as necessary. Lastly, 62 percent of workers report that their debt is their biggest challenge now.

Money put away for retirement is a big obstacle right now for many American workers, as approximately 60 percent of those surveyed report having total savings and investments of less than $25,000 (excluding the value for their residence and defined benefit plans). Even scarier, nearly 30 percent of these respondents claim to have less than $1,000 in their savings.

According to an EBRI spokesperson, “A lot of the people who have either lost their jobs or are worried about losing their jobs are trying to put a little money away for a rainy day and just don’t have money to put into savings right now.”

High Health Care Costs Prove a Burden

One of the major factors right now eating away at available money to put into savings are high health care costs. According to the survey, only 13 percent of respondents state they are very confident they will be able to meet medical expenses when their working days are over. Meantime, just 26 percent of workers claim to be very confident that they will even have the necessary funds to cover basic expenses.

As the American population ages, the irony of the health care issue is that advances in that very area leads to longer life expectancy for millions and millions of people. Living longer lives also means needing to put away more money in order to meet those needs.

With retirement funds scarce for many American workers, more and more are delaying retirement in order to keep a regular paycheck coming in, while increasing their Social Security benefits by waiting to ages 67 and 70 to start taking benefits.

On the down side of that idea, approximately half of current retirees report they exited the workforce unexpectedly due to health matters, a disability, or an employer that let workers go or even ceased operations.

So before gloom and doom set in from reading these numbers, the report does point out that more employers are automatically enrolling workers in retirement plans such as 401 (k)s, with many of those companies increasing contribution levels on a yearly basis.

EBRI’s spokesman pointed out that “We continue to find that employees lucky enough to be working for an employer that sponsors retirement plans — and who choose to take advantage of it — are not only much more likely to have a significantly higher amount of retirement savings, but also much higher confidence.”

As an American worker, what do you view your retirement to be like?

Are you confident today that you will have enough money for tomorrow or should you be doing A, B, and C to right your financial ship moving forward?

Photo credit: gobankingrates.com

Dave Thomas, who covers among other topics workers compensation and credit card processing, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel for U.S. Businesses?

by

According to a report released Oct. 5, from Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), U.S. companies brought on more workers in September than the previous month, however the number was not enough to put a dent in the large unemployment numbers nationwide.

While the ADP report brought some encouraging news, two separate reports unveiled the same day noted that layoffs increased rather dramatically last month, while service companies are not hiring additional employees despite the sector’s relatively stable growth.

Looking back at the brighter report, ADP and Macroeconomic Advisers LLC report that private-sector employers added 91,000 positions in September, an increase of some 2,000 jobs from the previous month. The government’s official jobs report is slated to be released on Oct. 7.

Is Minimal Growth Better than None at All?

While the news is somewhat encouraging in that the country appears at this point to be dodging another recession, the recent report also demonstrates that growth is coming in very minimal numbers at best, providing us with weak growth at best.

While everyone is looking for any signs of growth, we shouldn’t be deceived by the numbers.

Much like when gas prices are inflated to high levels, drivers think they’re getting a deal when they pay less for gas, the bottom line being it is still $1 or $2 above what they paid the year before. Improvement, but much better is possible.

As for expanding on the down side, a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas points out there were sharp increases in layoff announcements for September, with businesses planning to cut some 116,000 jobs, more than double the August report and the worst in more than two years. The biggest cuts came among the government and financial sectors.

What is Your Business Doing to Grow?

With the recent numbers showing a mixed bag, has your company been impacted either positively or negatively when it comes to job growth lately?

For many companies, especially smaller businesses, growth has been hard when you throw in the added costs for health care that many employers have been dealing with. While the government has tried to throw some incentives in the direction of small business owners, a fair number of them have either stood pat on hiring or even laid off where they felt it necessary.

If your small business is contemplating hiring, do you plan on? –

  • Waiting until after the holidays?
  • Waiting until you see better jobs numbers and additional incentives from Washington?
  • Waiting until next year’s presidential election is over?
  • Waiting to see if health care costs come down?

Lots of questions still remain for many small businesses, many of whom are playing the waiting game.

Photo credit: gaebler.com

Dave Thomas, who has authored a number of articles regarding business phone service writes extensively for www.business.com an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

How to Spot a Micromanager

by

We’ve all been guilty at one time or another of being a micromanager whether it was in the workplace or other facets of our lives.

You can usually spot a micromanager a mile away – the individual who wants to be a good leader but goes about in the wrong manner. While trying to better their workers, athletes, students, loved ones etc. they end up creating an issue that was not there in the first place.

The micromanager in many instances becomes just that because they want to make sure everything goes according to plan, their plan.

Whether it is the boss who doesn’t have enough faith in their workers, the teacher who strays from the lesson or the coach who doesn’t trust his team, they end up micromanaging and with it bring added stress to a situation. Another way to describe it is the micromanager wants full control and will accept nothing less.

Most micromanagers come about their title unbeknownst to them. They oftentimes don’t go out of their way to fill this role, but once it consumes them they know nothing else. Like it or not, they have programmed themselves for this part and they are unlikely to change unless called on it.

 

Dangers of Micromanaging

For those individuals who have willingly or surprisingly become a micromanager, there are options. They can continue to let this role define them as managers, coaches, teachers, etc. or they can do something about it.

One of the first things the micromanager needs to assess is how their actions are impacting not only those under them, but themselves. For many micromanagers, their leadership skills or lack thereof eventually lead to them burn out, taking some of those under them along the way.

While some micromanagers need to assume that role for a while if those under them lack certain skills and/or experience, others run the potential of alienating the very individuals they spend time working with, teaching and coaching.

No one wants to feel like they are somehow inferior to those above them, made to think like they cannot make a decision or carry out a project. The person in many cases will eventually tune out the micromanager, leading to an awkward relationship at best among the two.

Having discussed the dangers, how do you know if you in fact are a micromanager?

Among the telltale signs of this problem are:

  • You decide that instead of working to educate others and provide constructive criticism , you in fact treat them as inferior, being fast to highlight their mistakes;
  • You find the need to order individuals around;
  • You have a short fuse and become frustrated, defensive and/or lash out at those who contest something you did or said;
  • You are upset when someone goes above your head to deal with your micromanaging issues.

Given the fact we all have been guilty at some point in our lives of micromanaging others, it is important to not immediately play the victim game. Whether it is in the office, the classroom or other walks of life, micromanaging doesn’t serve either the person in charge or those under them any good.

Many of us are taught from an early age that we are either followers or leaders. For many micromanagers, they take the leadership role a little too far, eventually isolating themselves as someone who others do not want to deal with.

In the event you’ve been labeled a micromanager or feel some of the above items may actually describe your leadership skills, don’t think that you cannot change things. The benefits to removing the micromanager title from your resume are numerous.

Remember, an even bigger and better leader is one who can admit their deficiencies and learn from them.

Photo credit: smh.com.au

Dave Thomas is an expert writer on items like online marketing and is based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.