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Suggest You - 7 Steps to Workforce Retention
Domain Investment l>Domain investment, or the buying of domain names for profit, has been an internet marketing "insider secret" for a number of years. When the internet was young, for example, enterprising spirits grabbed the domain names of popular companies and resold them when those companies came knocking. In fact, stories abound on the net about domain names selling for thousands - and even millions - of dollars each. In 2006 alone, domain names such as "diamonds.com" and "cameras.com" sold for a combined $9 million dollars. There is no question that many people have made a bundle selling domain names, including "Domain King" Rick Schwartz, who has made up to $2,000,000 a year through domain investment.Can you make money selling domain names? Unless you're very lucky or already a proficient internet marketer, your chances are not great that you will be able to find a profitable domain If you've never done an employee satisfaction survey, the results will probably surprise you. But they’ll help you determine how to cost-effectively offer the work environment that will keep good people. 4. Evaluate your managers The CareerBuilder survey found that 25 percent of workers were dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Poor managers are the bane of your retention efforts. The employee satisfaction survey should identify problem bosses. Then work to correct th Power Tools: The Products Behind the Colors It's an IT jungle out there …and many of your employees may be thinking the jungles a bit greener somewhere else. With solo contracting becoming increasingly attractive, how do you make sure you retain key IT personnel?It’s kind of funny how the sales and marketing/advertising folks of the power tool companies have “drilled” into our heads the brand logos and the coordinating colors that accompany them. Do you think this was done completely by accident, or were there secret tests going on behind the scenes in your local hardware store’s backroom? Whatever the case may be, orange and black means Black & Decker; DeWalts brand is yellow; Milwaukee is the “power-color” of red; and Hitachi is that bright, neon-greenish hue that might one-day attempt to glow in the dark.Believe me when I tell you that the colors are all part of the big picture for the brands that are behind them. This creates an easily identifiable product in a sea filled with cordless fish, 36-volt electric eels, and 2-speed, man-eating sharks. Simply put, when you’re at your workplace or friend’s house, you’ll see someon Here are seven tips I’ve found helpful when working with companies suffering from talent drain, things you can do to not only retain staff but increase productivity and performance. 1. Stay on top of your rate of attrition Ironically, many companies examine their rate of staff attrition only after extensive losses. A widely publicized survey (done by CareerBuilder) earlier this year reported that 32 percent of IT workers planned to leave their jobs in 2006. The Walker Loyalty Report for Loyalty in the Workplace reported that only 34 percent of workers were truly loyal.” Considering that Silicon Valley’s average annual rate of attrition is about 20 to 30 percent and the national average has been just under 17 percent, these recent surveys should come as a shock. If you don’t already measure attrition rates within your staff, start now. Determine whether your retention rate is within norms for your industry, company and location. If you see an upward trend, you’ll have time to take action. 2. Revisit your compensation plan regularly Money isn’t everything, but it is important when IT workers are in high demand. According to a recent study by Randstad North America, 59 percent of employees say they would stay in their job if they received competitive compensation. Are you really paying the going rate? Can your benefits meet/exceed industry standards? You should be doing regular reviews to ensure that your compensation really is competitive. Researching salaries can be labor intensive, as you have to factor skills, demand for skills, years of experience and your local job market. But some shortcuts are available. HotGigs offers a chart of hourly rates of contractors, organized by job type. With benefits, your full-time employees should be making at least 60 percent of the hourly rate of consultants. This poster also provides a good benchmark for budgeting for contractors. 3. Conduct regular audits of job satisfaction Are you measuring the job satisfaction among your workforce? If not, start now using third party employee satisfaction measurement services, such as he Hay Group and WebSurveyor.com, or design your own survey. Then plan regular audits every year. Formal third-party surveys have the advantage of assuring your employees of anonymity, improving response rates. But you can also create your own survey using services such as Zoomerang. Ask about the many things thatinfluence employee satisfaction such as:
If you've never done an employee satisfaction survey, the results will probably surprise you. But they’ll help you determine how to cost-effectively offer the work environment that will keep good people. 4. Evaluate your managers The CareerBuilder survey found that 25 percent of workers were dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Poor managers are the bane of your retention efforts. The employee satisfaction survey should identify problem bosses. Then work to correct the How To Avoid A Bad Business Opportunity - Review in the Workplace reported that only 34 percent of workers were truly loyal.”I am sure at some point we have all been tempted by 'get rich quick' schemes. You have heard and seen it all before, the tempting schemes that we receive by email/post/newspaper advertisements etc. They promise we will be able to give up work and make ?1000's for just a few minutes work a day on the internet. They tempt you by promises of nice houses, cars and holidays and lots of ???'s.Here are some key points on how to establish whether a 'Business Opportunity' is likely to leave you broke rather than lead you to the promised pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.- DUE DILIGENCE. See what you can find out about the company. Check their details with the government website: CompaniesHouse.gov.uk. Their WebCheck service offers a searchable company names and address index which is free of charge and enables you to search for information on more than 1.8 million com Considering that Silicon Valley’s average annual rate of attrition is about 20 to 30 percent and the national average has been just under 17 percent, these recent surveys should come as a shock. If you don’t already measure attrition rates within your staff, start now. Determine whether your retention rate is within norms for your industry, company and location. If you see an upward trend, you’ll have time to take action. 2. Revisit your compensation plan regularly Money isn’t everything, but it is important when IT workers are in high demand. According to a recent study by Randstad North America, 59 percent of employees say they would stay in their job if they received competitive compensation. Are you really paying the going rate? Can your benefits meet/exceed industry standards? You should be doing regular reviews to ensure that your compensation really is competitive. Researching salaries can be labor intensive, as you have to factor skills, demand for skills, years of experience and your local job market. But some shortcuts are available. HotGigs offers a chart of hourly rates of contractors, organized by job type. With benefits, your full-time employees should be making at least 60 percent of the hourly rate of consultants. This poster also provides a good benchmark for budgeting for contractors. 3. Conduct regular audits of job satisfaction Are you measuring the job satisfaction among your workforce? If not, start now using third party employee satisfaction measurement services, such as he Hay Group and WebSurveyor.com, or design your own survey. Then plan regular audits every year. Formal third-party surveys have the advantage of assuring your employees of anonymity, improving response rates. But you can also create your own survey using services such as Zoomerang. Ask about the many things thatinfluence employee satisfaction such as:
If you've never done an employee satisfaction survey, the results will probably surprise you. But they’ll help you determine how to cost-effectively offer the work environment that will keep good people. 4. Evaluate your managers The CareerBuilder survey found that 25 percent of workers were dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Poor managers are the bane of your retention efforts. The employee satisfaction survey should identify problem bosses. Then work to correct th Actions are Louder Than ir job if they received competitive compensation.You have heard the saying that "actions speak louder than words". It is so true, especially when it comes to business relationships. We talked about places to keep in contact with the Power of Ten in the last chapter, as a basis for doing business. This chapter is more concentrated on doing the work through commitment and follow-up. You cannot expect to keep a customer unless you provide them with excellent customer service. You may argue that price is also an issue but I believe that a person will not mind paying a higher price (providing it is not too high) for the best customer service they have ever experienced. Look around you and you will see that you can buy the same types of clothing from a number of locations such as Wal Mart, Target, Sears, Nordstrom's etc. Wal Mart offers unbelievably low prices and their customer service is good as well but Nordstrom's offers unbelie Are you really paying the going rate? Can your benefits meet/exceed industry standards? You should be doing regular reviews to ensure that your compensation really is competitive. Researching salaries can be labor intensive, as you have to factor skills, demand for skills, years of experience and your local job market. But some shortcuts are available. HotGigs offers a chart of hourly rates of contractors, organized by job type. With benefits, your full-time employees should be making at least 60 percent of the hourly rate of consultants. This poster also provides a good benchmark for budgeting for contractors. 3. Conduct regular audits of job satisfaction Are you measuring the job satisfaction among your workforce? If not, start now using third party employee satisfaction measurement services, such as he Hay Group and WebSurveyor.com, or design your own survey. Then plan regular audits every year. Formal third-party surveys have the advantage of assuring your employees of anonymity, improving response rates. But you can also create your own survey using services such as Zoomerang. Ask about the many things thatinfluence employee satisfaction such as:
If you've never done an employee satisfaction survey, the results will probably surprise you. But they’ll help you determine how to cost-effectively offer the work environment that will keep good people. 4. Evaluate your managers The CareerBuilder survey found that 25 percent of workers were dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Poor managers are the bane of your retention efforts. The employee satisfaction survey should identify problem bosses. Then work to correct th Free Business Forms , your full-time employees should be making at least 60 percent of the hourly rate of consultants. This poster also provides a good benchmark for budgeting for contractors.Business forms are used by everybody for some reason or other, in offices as well as personal dealings. It could be an employment form, a contract, sale deed, agreement, insurance policy, rent form, bank form, medical form, human resources form, and so on. They are used to collect or provide information. In office setups, they are used every second. For individual purposes, they may not be used very frequently. In both cases, writing business forms may seem to be a boring, repetitive, and time-consuming task. After all, it should look neat, good, and politically correct, and communicate the message well.The task becomes much simpler with pre-designed business forms. Hundreds of free or low-cost forms can be easily accessed online. They are available for all purposes. These are standard formats with general information, and most often need to be modified according to indi 3. Conduct regular audits of job satisfaction Are you measuring the job satisfaction among your workforce? If not, start now using third party employee satisfaction measurement services, such as he Hay Group and WebSurveyor.com, or design your own survey. Then plan regular audits every year. Formal third-party surveys have the advantage of assuring your employees of anonymity, improving response rates. But you can also create your own survey using services such as Zoomerang. Ask about the many things thatinfluence employee satisfaction such as:
If you've never done an employee satisfaction survey, the results will probably surprise you. But they’ll help you determine how to cost-effectively offer the work environment that will keep good people. 4. Evaluate your managers The CareerBuilder survey found that 25 percent of workers were dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Poor managers are the bane of your retention efforts. The employee satisfaction survey should identify problem bosses. Then work to correct th What are Intelligent Numbers? l>Marketing Numbers UKMarketing numbers, already prolific in the United States, are quickly gaining popularity in the UK. They are emerging as a powerful business tool that many organisations should not be without. These are special telephone numbers which may be used to eliminate geographical barriers, generate revenue and strengthen brand presence.The major advantage for businesses of marketing numbers is that they are generally supplied with powerful number translation services such as voice and fax to email, time of day routing, call and fax broadcast, follow me or hunt group facilities and other valuable call handling functionality. Information about inbound calls (date, time, geographical area, duration) provides valuable marketing information to the business.Freephone NumbersFreephone numbers - typically with the 0800 prefix - are free of charge If you've never done an employee satisfaction survey, the results will probably surprise you. But they’ll help you determine how to cost-effectively offer the work environment that will keep good people. 4. Evaluate your managers The CareerBuilder survey found that 25 percent of workers were dissatisfied with their immediate supervisor. Poor managers are the bane of your retention efforts. The employee satisfaction survey should identify problem bosses. Then work to correct the problem areas. Good managers communicate the vision and value of IT with employees. They remove barriers to their employee’s successes. They work on skills development programs and create formal or informal mentoring programs. They provide clear guidance on roles, responsibilities and rewards. If your managers aren’t up to snuff, get them training or move them out. Your own lack of action may cost you even more employees in the long run. 5. Promote from within Promoting from within demonstrates to employees that you reward hard work, can boost productivity, and help with team collaboration and staff retention. Establish lists of soft and hard skills for the required positions and responsibility levels with your employees, so they know exactly what to shoot for. Establish a solid employee performance evaluation around these lists, and use it as criteria to promote. 6. Perk up the perks Well designed and executed an employee benefits plan has to include health insurance and generous retirement options. But additional perks can make the difference between retention and a farewell party. If you can, offer a menu of perks. On campus fitness centers, team building/bonding experiences such as talent shows, or company-philanthropic programs may appeal better to younger workers who get a kick out of extending their college-like experiences in the workplace. Those with families may appreciate more flexibility in work hours to help them balance work-life responsibilities. And don’t forget spot rewards. Make sure your managers have “goodie drawers,” filled with inexpensive gift certificates, certificates of appreciation and time-off vouchers so they can immediately reward an outstanding job. 7. Make the work more interesting Most technology professionals want new challenges that help them update skills or they’re liable to head for the exit. Share company direction openly and honestly with your employees. You’ve hired skilled professionals; ask frankly for their advice and you’ll not only spark their interest, you’ll probably also receive great ideas. Talk with them about what they’d like to do, and what they see as the “next big thing” for their talents. Give them access to training and remind their managers that every employee should be taking advantage of your training programs. One tried-and-true solution: establish a mentoring program. Pairing new employees with more senior employees in other departments provides an important alternative to the management chain, and may also bring fresh ideas into unexpected places. Create regular task forces to tackle real problems facing the company, and ensure that they’re rewarded for coming up with solutions. When all is said and done, your ability to retain employees comes down to the same factors that influence their success under your leadership. Your workforce will stay because you respect their opinions, communicate well, create an atmosphere of t
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