Loading

Grow Smart Business


teaserInfographic
Close

Search Articles

Most liked posts



Recent Articles

Popular Tags

accounting and taxes blogging blogs Branding Business Development business travel Capital Access Compliance Customer Service ecommerce Email marketing entrepreneur entrepreneurship Facebook Generational Marketing GrowSmartBiz Conference Grow Smart Business lead generation LinkedIn Marketing michael dougherty mobile marketing networking online marketing Raising Capital Resources retail sales sales process SBSI Search Marketing seo small business small business accounting small business hiring small business loans small business marketing small business resources small business technology Small Business Trends social media Technology Twitter Web Design Workforce

Categories

Posts Tagged ‘small business employees’

« Older Entries

Plan Now for a Great Company Holiday Party

November 2nd, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

It’s November and although the holidays may seem far away, if you’re planning to have a holiday party for your small business, you’d better get moving on your plans. Hotels, restaurants and other party locations book up far in advance, so it’s not too soon to start thinking about this year’s holiday celebration. Here are some tips for keeping it festive while still under budget.

  1. Choose an off time. Booking your event on a weeknight or even during the day rather than a more popular time such as a Friday night can save you big bucks. You might even consider having a holiday luncheon and letting your employees take the rest of the afternoon off. You’ll save on menu items, drinks and venue rental costs.
  2. Host at home. If your company is small enough, your home is big enough and you feel comfortable enough with your employees, hosting your holiday party at your home is a great way to build bonds with your staff. It feels extra-special when they’re invited into your home, and you save money on venue rental to boot.
  3. Celebrate in the office. Depending on your staff and the “vibe” you want to create, having a party in the office can be just as much fun as going to an outside location—especially if you spend the money you’d normally spend on a venue bringing in better food, fun activities that your team will enjoy or otherwise creating a festive environment.
  4. Time it right. No rule says you have to have your holiday party in November or December. Consider hosting a New Year’s celebration in January instead—it starts 2013 off with a bang, saves you money and gives employees more time to spend on personal matters (like holiday shopping) during the already-busy holiday season. This can work especially well if, like many small businesses, the holidays are your busiest time of the year.
  5. Speech, speech! No holiday party is complete without the boss (that’s you) thanking the team for a great year. Personal recognition such as gift certificates, cash bonuses or actual gifts for each employee are always great, too. Top it off with a handwritten, personal card that tells each employee something you appreciate about them.

Whatever decisions you make about your company holiday party, “personal” is key to making the event fun, meaningful and memorable—so feel free to do things your way.

Image by Flickr user Mike_fleming (Creative Commons)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in small business, Small Business Success Index, Workforce | 2 Comments »

More Americans Willing to Move for New Jobs

February 3rd, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you looking for new employees? Well, don’t feel your search is limited to those in your own backyard. I’m not talking about virtual employees or outsourcing, either: A new study by CareerBuilder of workers nationwide found nearly half (44 percent) of respondents would willing to relocate for a career opportunity. In fact, CareerBuilder says that off laid-off employees who found jobs in the past year, 20 percent relocated to do so.

At the same time, more employers are struggling to find skilled workers–and are willing to pay to import talent to their city. Thirty-two percent of employers in the survey said would be willing to pay to relocate new employees this year; 19 percent would pay a smaller first-year salary so they could give a relocating employee a signing bonus.

Which types of workers are most in demand? The top areas for which workers were most willing to pay to relocate employees all relate to technology or to revenue-generating jobs:

  • Engineering – 30 percent of employers
  • Information Technology – 23 percent
  • Business Development – 21 percent
  • Sales – 21 percent
  • Financial – 16 percent
  • Marketing – 13 percent
  • Legal – 11 percent

If you’re looking for workers out of your area, you might want to check out CareerBuilder’s new site, CareerRelocate.com, which targets workers who are seeking employment outside of their area. Employers can post jobs and find candidates. Job candidates can search by keyword or category search to see where the most and fewest opportunities are for their skills; view jobs in different cities; compare salary averages and standard of living in different cities; and research homes, property values, mortgage quotes and moving and storage costs.

More than three-fourths of workers who relocated in the last year said they didn’t regret the decision. But if you’re planning to hire workers from outside your area, you should be aware of the top problems workers cited with relocating:

  • Cost of living is higher – 26 percent
  • More stress on the family unit – 24 percent
  • Difficult to make new friends – 18 percent
  • Feeling homesick – 16 percent

Knowing what issues your new employee is dealing with can help you be proactive in supporting them so they feel valued and welcome at your company.

Image by Flickr user Marxchivist (Creative Commons)

Tags: ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | 2 Comments »

Are Your Employees Putting Your Data Security at Risk?

October 5th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you worried that employees’ online practices are putting your company data at risk? Breathe a sigh of relief: According to new research from Internet security service company Webroot, the first, 95 percent of workers say they respect the importance of their employer’s measures for protecting their network and customer information.

But don’t relax completely: Webroot did find that some 25 percent of employees have tried to bypass company security policies at some point. “Employees at all levels still introduce risk to a corporate network through activities like surfing the Web, shopping online, planning personal events and accessing personal email accounts while at work,” said Jacques Erasmus, chief information security officer for Webroot, in announcing the survey results.

  • 89 percent of employees believe that their employers’ security policies help prevent infections or viruses on the company network.
  • 75 percent agree security policies are a necessary evil.
  • Just 7 percent of employees expressed concern that employers monitor their online activities.
  • 61 percent said their employers’ security policies “never” or “rarely” make it harder to do their jobs.

 

Here are some of the security policies that companies use:

  • Login password for company computers: 84 percent;
  • Program download restrictions: 55 percent
  • Restrictions on accessing network outside of the office: 37 percent
  • Two-factor authentication for network or computer access: 20 percent

Of those who skirt around corporate security policies, younger employees (aged 18 to 29) were slightly more likely to do so. Some 15 percent had used a mobile device to do activities prohibited at work, compared to 6 percent overall. Twelve percent admitted they had accessed prohibited sites from a mobile device, compared to 5 percent overall. And 6 percent had manipulated browser settings, compared to 3 percent overall.

If you want to tighten your Web security policies, here are four steps Webroot security experts recommend:

  1. Define security policies – With a new generation of Web-based attacks, spyware, adware and webmail‑borne viruses, it’s more important than ever to develop well-thought-out and clearly defined web security policies.
  2. Embrace social media – Social networks are new mediums for digital threats to your business. Build these into your policy and create rules that allow employees to harness the benefits of these new technologies while protecting your business.
  3. Clearly communicate your policies – Regularly communicate policies as well as IT and security issues to your staff.
  4. Block threats before they reach your network – Using a cloud-based Web security service can protect mobile employees as if they were at the office, while monitoring and enforcing your Web security policies.

Image by Flickr user Dusk Photography (Creative Commons)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business Law, Compliance, Small Business, small business, social media, Technology, Workforce | No Comments »

Are You Giving Raises Next Year?

September 9th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Will your small business be giving employees salary increases next year? Business Finance recently took a look at three major salary surveys conducted by WorldatWork (2,466 companies), Towers Watson (773 companies) and Mercer (more than 1,200 companies). Although all three surveys focused on big corporations, what they have to say is relevant for small businesses as well.

All three surveys predict average wage increases of from 2.7 percent to 3 percent, with the lower end of the scale generally for hourly employees and the higher end for management, exempt salaried workers and executives.

Within that range, however, companies are seeking to reward top performers. The Towers Watson survey reported that employees with the highest performance ratings will get median salary increases of 4.5 percent. In comparison, those with average ratings will get increases of 2.5 percent and workers with below-average ratings will get 1.4 percent.

Market forces are another factor in salary increases. While high unemployment is keeping overall increases down, in some industries where there’s a high demand for skilled employees and difficulty finding or retaining them, salary increases will be higher.

With larger firms planning salary increases—although the increases aren’t huge—how can your small company compete? If you can’t afford to offer raises, think about other ways to reward employees:

  • Bonuses tied to performance achievement
  • Profit-sharing plans tied to overall company profitability
  • Non-financial perks such as flextime, comp time or the ability to work remotely

These options are great ways to retain workers, which is especially important if you have highly skilled employees you don’t want to lose when the economy picks up again.

Image by Flickr user Mykl Roventine (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Your Employees and Social Media: What You Need to Know

August 19th, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to market your business? Are you concerned about what’s being said about your company, your products and your services online? Even if your business is not actively involved in social media as a promotional tool, word can be spreading about your company on social media via your employees.

You may not stop to think about what your employees say and do on their personal social media accounts and how it affects your business. But, as Human Resources Executive Online recently reported, more and more companies are finding that what their employees say on social media can have a negative effect on their company image and reputation.

If an employee criticizes you or a co-worker, says something negative about your company’s policies or products, or vents about something he or she thinks is unfair in the workplace, all of this can affect others’ opinions of your business as a place to work and a place to patronize.

But how much control do you have over what your employees say and do on their personal social media accounts? Human Resources Executive Online warns us to tread carefully when dealing with this area. Under the National Labor Relations Act, employers cannot interfere with an employee’s right to take part in “protected and concerted activity,” which is typically defined to mean discussions or actions related to working conditions.

Human Resources Executive Online reports that the National Labor Relations Board is getting more involved in cases where employer rules prohibit employees for engaging in this type of activity on social media. The article cites several examples, and while it’s difficult to draw hard-and-fast rules from the Board’s rulings so far, a discussion on Facebook about something an employee thinks is unfair in your workplace, for example, could conceivably be protected speech.

Given that this issue is so sensitive, it’s a good idea to develop a policy for how your employees can use social media both in and out of the workplace. Many small businesses don’t have any such policy in place.

A basic starting point is for your policy to state that employees have no expectation of privacy if they’re using social media on company time using employer-provided computers or email accounts. While you can’t prohibit employees from posting or discussing topics related to wages, hours and working conditions, you can word your policy in such a way that libelous, abusive or threatening comments, or those that reveal proprietary information that could help competitors, can be prohibited both in and out of the workplace.

Since this is a new and contentious area of workplace employment law, it’s best to consult an attorney who’s familiar with these issues in developing your policy. After all, your business’s reputation could be at stake.

Image by Flickr user Roger Price (Creative Commons)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business Law, Compliance, Small Business, small business, social media, Workforce | No Comments »

More Employers Use Facebook to Search for Job Candidates

August 16th, 2011 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Are you getting ready to hire employees to ramp up your business after years of running short-staffed? Or maybe you just need to replace an employee who’s retiring or leaving for other reasons.

For small businesses, finding good sources of job candidates can be a big challenge. Listings on big job search sites may return too many unqualified candidates, costing you time wading through resumes of people who don’t fit your description (not to mention the cost of the listings, which can be fairly high for a small business). So maybe you resort to word-of-mouth, letting colleagues and customers know you’re on the hunt for a new staffer.

While word-of-mouth is often a great way to find new candidates, it doesn’t always work due to timing issues. Now there’s a new way to take advantage of word-of-mouth and spread the word even more widely to your friends’ and colleagues’ friends and colleagues using Facebook.

The Wall Street Journal recently took a look at the growing trend of using social media to find and advertise jobs. While LinkedIn, which offers job listings and is more career-oriented than Facebook, has dominated up till now, the Journal reports that Facebook is starting to catch up. One reason could be that people tend to be more closely connected to their Facebook friends, so they trust their referrals and recommendations more. One expert cited by the Journal says candidates are 50% more likely to apply to job openings they learn about through Facebook than through other means. Another is simply that people tend to visit Facebook more often than LinkedIn.

The Journal says that according to Jobs2Web, Facebook hires currently make up less than 1% of total new hires, but that could be changing: Jobs2Web says if Facebook hiring trends continue, the social network could rival traditional job boards as hiring tool by 2012.

How can you use Facebook to hire? One simple way is to post information about jobs on your business’s Facebook page, but some companies go so far as to search for comments people are making about job hunts or unhappiness with current jobs to sniff out potential candidates. This strategy can backfire, though, if candidates see it as “invasive” because they weren’t actively seeking jobs. By comparison, candidates who are active on LinkedIn tend to be more open to new job offers and opportunities because that site is focused on job-related networking.

You can get around this hurdle by accessing tools that are dedicated to Facebook job search. One Facebook app, BranchOut, boasts it enables job seekers to browse through millions of job listings. And job search site Monster.com has a Facebook app called BeKnown.

Have you tried looking for job candidates on Facebook? Will you next time you’re on the hunt?

Image by Flickr user Marc Falardeau (Creative Commons)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Networking, Small Business, small business, social media, Workforce | No Comments »

Aging America Affects Your Business in More Ways Than You Think

August 1st, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Americans are getting older—that’s no surprise. But while seniors can be a booming market for some businesses, for others, they’re creating new workplace issues. Nearly 10 million adult children over the age of 50 care for their aging parents (that’s one-fourth of all adult children), according to the recently released MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers. And working and non-working adult children are almost equally as likely to provide care to parents in need.

If someone in your work force is caring for aging parents, it’s having an impact on your workplace. The amount of wages, Social Security and other benefits caregivers lose by taking care of aging parents is estimated at close to $3 trillion over their working lifetimes; per working caregiver, the average is more than $300,000.

The impact on working caregivers is more than just financial, of course. Adult children 50+ who work and provide care to a parent are more likely to have fair or poor health than those who do not provide care to their parents.  And while both sons and daughters were about equally likely to provide care, women were more likely to provide actual physical assistance, while men were more likely to provide financial assistance.

What does it this trend to your business? First, every workplace is likely to be impacted by the aging of America. Be sensitive to the needs of working caregivers caring for a parent, just as you are to parents in your workplace caring for children. To get the most productivity from your workforce, you’ll want to help them manage both their responsibilities with the parent and with their jobs. Some ways to do this include:

  • Offer flexible hours so employees can fit their schedules around the needs of aging parents.
  • Create policies so working caregivers can take time off for things such as taking parents to the doctor or other appointments that may occur during typical work hours.
  • Consider allowing employees to work at home, either occasionally or as a regular policy; this could help them better balance their caregiving and work duties.
  • Be sensitive to employees’ stress and emotions. Sometimes being understanding is all it takes.
  • For a caregiver providing financial assistance to a parent, money may be a big motivator. For someone who’s providing physical care, time off may be more valuable than money. When motivating employees, consider whether comp time or a monetary bonuses will be most rewarding for that person.

In all your policies, it’s important to be fair but also to stay on the right side of regulations regarding employees. Caregivers are typically older employees, which can be a sensitive area—you don’t want to discriminate. Talk to your attorney or an HR consultant to make sure your policies aren’t running afoul of any laws.

Image by Flickr user Ann Wuyts (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: , ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

How Do Employee Benefits Help Small Businesses?

July 26th, 2011 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

If you offer benefits to employees at your small business, you should be pretty proud of yourself. Benefits aren’t cheap, and they’re a great way to attract and retain satisfied employees. But a new survey from insurance provider Aflac shows that business owners aren’t necessarily getting all the benefits they think they’re getting from employee benefits.

The 2011 Aflac WorkForces Report surveyed employers and employees at companies in of all sizes. Small business owners reported their main goals when offering benefits are:

  1. taking care of employees;
  2. doing the right thing; and
  3. retaining employees.

How good of a job do small business owners think their benefits packages are doing at keeping employees happy?

What challenges are small companies facing when it comes to benefits? Not surprisingly, understanding health care reform was the top benefits challenge for 64% of small employers, while offering quality benefits within a budget was the second-largest benefits challenge for 63% of small companies.

However, employees were less satisfied with their benefits than small business owners think they are. About half (51 percent) of small business owners say their benefits packages meet employees’ needs “extremely” or “very” well. However, only 37 percent of small business employees agree.

There are some reasons for this discrepancy. The study found that small companies are less likely that midsized or large ones to give employees a voice in choosing benefits that will be offered. They are also less likely to provide voluntary benefits (extras, such as life insurance, that employees can choose to buy on their own).

But part of the problem is not what small businesses are offering, but simply the way they’re communicating about it. Almost half (46%) of small company employees say their companies don’t communicate enough about employee benefits packages. And 39% of employees “strongly agree” that better communication about their benefits would make them more loyal to their employer.

What’s the lesson for you? First, consider offering your employees some input into the benefits you provide. Of course, let them know that you can’t satisfy everyone – but getting their input could make them feel better and even save you some money if, for instance, you find out that no one really cares about having vision insurance or some other benefit you’ve been offering.

Second, let employees know what you’re doing for them. Many workers don’t realize how costly insurance and other benefits can be. Explain your benefits programs, how employees can get the most from them, and how much your company is contributing toward them. It’s likely to make everyone feel a bit more appreciative—and that will pay off in greater loyalty.

Image by Flickr user Ano Lobb (Creative Commons)

 

Tags: , ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | 3 Comments »

Are Smarter Employees More Stressed-and What Can You Do About It?

July 22nd, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Does your business rely on “knowledge workers”—white-collar employees who work with data, words or information all day? If so, your staff may be suffering from greater-than-average stress on the job, which could be hurting your company’s productivity and putting its future at risk.

Findings from GfK Custom Research North America’s GfK U.S. Employee Engagement Benchmark 2011 Survey found both good news and bad news about highly educated employees. First, the good:

Educated employees are more likely to be highly engaged with their jobs. In North America, employees with a PhD were the most engaged (38 percent highly engaged), while those employees who had less than a high school education were the least engaged with their jobs (only 25 percent highly engaged).

Now, the bad news: The same employees with a PhD — which include “knowledge workers” and “the creative class” — reported the highest levels of worry about job security (30 percent), having enough resources to do their jobs effectively (30 percent), stress at work (29 percent), struggling to create work-life balance (33 percent), and pressure to work long hours (30 percent).

Employees with master’s degrees were similarly more stressed than those with less education. In fact, even more of those with a master’s degree than with a PhD said they frequently worry about stress (39 percent) and work-life balance (25 percent).

“Greater education opens the door to more opportunities in the job market, but with that comes higher levels of responsibility and pressure to deliver results,” said Thomas Hartley, vice president of GfK Customer Loyalty and Employee Engagement. “Engaged employees are a companies’ most valuable asset, and addressing the pressures that more educated employees face is crucial to keeping them engaged and not seeking employment elsewhere.”

Not surprisingly, the survey found employees who were less engaged were more likely to leave their jobs voluntarily turnover. However, one surprising finding was that voluntary turnover is rising in professional and business services–despite high engagement among these employees.  “The reason appears to be fallout from decisions made by employees in this knowledge-intensive sector during the recession,” the authors theorize. With nearly half of employees in professional and business services saying they were forced to change life plans during the recession, they may be making job changes to “bring their life back on track” to the goals they had prior to the recession.

As a small business owner, you should be close enough with your employees to know if any of them are facing this situation. To encourage them to stay, think about how you could help them get their lives back on track, whether it’s offering them new training and career education opportunities, providing tools such as flextime to help them with work/life balance, or offering a promotion or new responsibilities.

There’s also some good news for small businesses overall: Employees of small companies report being far more engaged (37 percent highly engaged) than those at large companies (where just 23 percent are highly engaged). Clearly, a small, close-knit workplace is something employees value—so take steps to make sure your educated employees know that you care.

Image by Flickr user gadgetdude (Creative Commons)

 

 

 

Tags: ,
Posted in Small Business, small business, Uncategorized, Workforce | No Comments »

Will Providing Employee Training Lead to Turnover?

July 15th, 2011 ::

 By Rieva Lesonsky

Many small business owners are reluctant to provide their employees with job training beyond the basics that are needed. Why? Because they’re worried that, after they invest a lot of money in training and educating an employee, that person will use their newfound skills not to benefit the business, but to leave for a higher-paying job the first chance they get.

Various studies have shown this isn’t the case. But one recent study, reported by BNET columnist Mark Henricks, sheds some new light on the best ways to train employees and at the same time, reduce your fear of turnover.

The study, “Antecedents and outcomes of organizational support for development: The critical role of career opportunities” was conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois-Chicago, and published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Based on interviews with employees at Fortune 500 companies, the researchers found that training programs, mentoring opportunities and related advancement tools helped employees feel better about their employer. They found that employees who received training performed better at their jobs. And they also found employees who received training were less likely to leave their employers voluntarily.

However, there’s one crucial “but”: When employees who got training didn’t have the chance to advance at their companies, not only did training actually hurt their performance, but it also made them more likely to leave their jobs for another employer.

Henricks notes that although this study focused on large companies, it might have even more lessons for small business owners since “being smaller and flatter, with fewer levels of hierarchy, they are inherently less likely to be able to offer employees promotions.”

It only makes sense that an employee who’s eager and ready to use the new skills he or she has learned would get frustrated and even resentful if there’s no chance to implement the new knowledge. That inevitably leads to lower performance and even a job hunt.

What’s the takeaway? Don’t stop providing your employees with opportunities to improve and grow. But do make sure, before you provide training, that you have some way for them to actually use what they learn to advance in your business—whether it’s by taking on new responsibilities, earning a new job title or getting a hefty promotion.

Image by Flickr user Dennis Crowley (Creative Commons)

Tags: ,
Posted in small business, Workforce | No Comments »

« Older Entries