Please, Stay Away if You’re Sick

If you are sick, should you go to work anyways?  This is a great debate among many.  Staying home to watch tv and lounge on the cough is an easy suggestion, right?  To some it may be, but to others a day staying home from work is just creating more work to go back to, or some feel they are indespensible and can’t miss a day, while others just don’t have the time to take work off.  Whatever the reason is, is it really a good idea to go in to work when you are under the weather? 

An article from Business Week that I ran into goes into great detail of the downfalls of having a sick co-worker show up on the job.  “Illnesses like the cold and flu can be spread by physical contact. When we're sick, the people with whom we come into physical contact have a significantly increased risk of coming down with the illness, according to virologists, epidemiologists, and other experts. There is a causal relationship between being sick with a cold or the flu and making others sick by touching them directly or handling an object that they soon touch themselves.”

Some other points brought up in the article for staying away from the office were, if we can actually perfrom to the best of our abilities while not feeling well, getting other co-workers sick, getting co-worker’s families sick, and the last one here that caught my attention, “going to work sick is unfair to your employer. According to a report published in The New York Times in 2006, researchers at Cornell University found that ill workers on the job could account for up to 60% of corporate health costs. The recently coined phrase "presenteeism" speaks to the financial downside of overly motivated workers who bring their upper respiratory illnesses to work with them.

All in all, is it fair to yourself to work when you are not feeling well?  I guess that is up to you.

Posted February 29th, 2008 by admin - Posted in Benefits, Health, Human Resources, Other, Productivity | | 0 Comments

Get Blogging or Get Out of Business

Has your company tried out social networking or blogging?  Better jump on board before your company is left behind.In a article I just read from Business Week, it goes into fine detail on the ins and outs of where businesses are looking to make an advertising splash.  Yes, that’s right, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are and have been the hot topics around companies.  Also, another craze has caught on called blogging.  "Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they’re simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself."  I find it fascinating that blogging has become such a phenomenon.  Who would have thought that hearing other amateur people’s opinions on a particular topic would be something of interest to the masses of people that surf the internet?  Its the new generation that you always heard when you were a kid from your grandmother.  "Back when I was younger…", you know what I mean. 

Some numbers from the article that really caught my attention were, " There are some 9 million blogs out there, Yes, there were 9 million, but how many of them were active? Probably only a fraction. In early 2008, says Technorati Chairman David Sifry, the search company indexes 112 million blogs, with 120,000 new ones popping up each day. But only 11% of these blogs, he says, have posted within the past two months. That means the active universe is closer to 13 million blogs. Kevin Burton, CEO of FeedBlog, argues that the number should be lower, from 2 million to 4 million blogs. with 40,000 new ones popping up each day."

Posted February 22nd, 2008 by admin - Posted in Advertising, Human Resources, Other, Recruiting | | 0 Comments

Is Your Place to Work, Great?

Having open communication is a key to avoiding organizational or interpersonal problems at work.  What can you do shen there is silence among some employees?  Are your employees just not speaking up or is it just in thier personality not to?

Here are a few ways to create a work environment with a commitment to open communication and how to break the silence. (Creating a Great Place to Work from Business Week)

Spend the day out of the office:   Meet with employees in their own departments.  Actually take the time to see your workers in their element rather than yours.  

Have an employee orientation:  New employees should have an extensive training and "getting to know you" period.  Have a strict plan in place to make them feel welcomed.

Company wide meetings:  This way everyone is in the same place hearing the same thing.  Everyone is then on the same page.

Keep open lines of varying communication:  Have multiple ways for your employees to communicate to their managers and bosses.  Some personality types like face to face conversations while others express themselves better in writing. 

Posted February 15th, 2008 by admin - Posted in Customer Service, Human Resources, Other, Performance Reviews, Productivity, Recruiting | | 0 Comments

Some like it HOT!

Every change in season seems to bring on new "wars" in the office.  The AC War.  For the most part, we can laugh at it.  But these constant changing of the temperatures in the office could be adding to an influx of colds and other ailments.  You know you have seen it.  One employee is "freezing" in their office and bumps the control up to warm it up.  Two offices down the hall all the sudden wonders why they are sweating and gets up to adjust the thermostat down to "his" comfort level….and the war begins. 

Some offices will lock a box around the control box to keep this from happening.  That is fine, but what about the person sitting in the office that happens to have poor circulation?  You’re wondering if I mean the vents or the blood flow of the employee.  Well, I mean both. Are companies obligated to purchase heaters and fans to keep their employees happy?  What about the "warmer" employee falling asleep on the job, being lathargic from the heat? Or the "freezing" employee with the sniffles, sneezing all day.  How does this affect productivity?  Should we be worried?

Really, I am just wondering.  Just wondering while I am typing away with my frozen fingers. 

Posted February 8th, 2008 by Camille - Posted in Customer Service, Health, Human Resources, Productivity, Safety, Workers' Comp | | 1 Comments

Get Familiar with the New Sanctions Law

I'm sure there are still a few more appeals, but the Arizona Employer's Sanctions Law is a go.  Get fimiliar with the rules and regulations.

House Bill 2779 (Fair and Legal Employment Act)

Prohibit employers from knowingly or intentionally hiring undocumented workers. - Starting Jan. 1, would require all employers to run their employees through the Basic Pilot Program to determine their legal status. Use of the program would act as a sort of immunity for employers facing prosecution under the law.

1st offense: Businesses caught "knowingly" employing an undocumented worker would lose their license for up to 10 days. Those caught "intentionally" hiring an undocumented worker would lose their license for at least 10 days.

2nd offense (while on probation): Permanent revocation of the business license.

The big question remains on how will the law be enforced? - Investigations would be conducted based on complaints against employers.

If the complaint was shown to be valid, the investigator would be required to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement.

From the state's 2007-08 General Fund, the bill would provide $100,000 to the Arizona Attorney General's Office, and $2.4 million to be distributed to county prosecutors.

Posted February 8th, 2008 by admin - Posted in Human Resources, Immigration, Recruiting | | 0 Comments