Communication

Lesson of Hurricane Sandy: It’s time to update your crisis-management plan

10/30/2012

Hurricane Sandy is a powerful reminder: Natural (and man-made) disasters can threaten at any time. Smart employers make contingency plans so they can stay up and running even when normal work operations are disrupted. Here are eight key pieces to a crisis-management plan, which you can coordinate with the appropriate departments.

Michigan firm’s employees say collective ‘thanks’ to truckers

10/23/2012

During National Truck Driver Appreciation Week in September, employees of Troy, Mich.-based Meritor personally extended their thanks to the professional drivers who serve the company’s manufacturing plants.

GSA employees come up with $5 million in savings

10/22/2012

After suffering a slow-healing black eye for a lavish Las Vegas conference, the U.S. General Services Administration has turned to its staff for ideas to save money. Since unleashing “The Great Ideas Hunt,” GSA employees have offered the beleaguered agency more than 600 ideas.

Are your HR ‘customers’ satisfied? Surveys can tell

10/15/2012

One way for HR departments to improve their performance—and their reputation among execs—is to treat employees like customers seeking good service. So how can you tell if those “customers” are happy? Do as you would with any customer—conduct a survey.

Is your cube becoming a cage? 6 tips to put the ‘human’ back in HR

10/12/2012

Getting out on the shop floor or into the breakroom could counter employee attitudes that link HR only with bad news and being disconnected from employees. Here are six tips to help raise HR’s visibility.

Can we stop employees from talking politics?

10/01/2012

Q. With the election approaching, it seems like our office is as politically divided as the country. Can we ban all political talk?

Do your employees trust their co-workers?

09/10/2012

U.S. workers may not trust their boss, but they do trust their colleagues. More than a third of workers (34%) say they “very much” trust their work colleagues and another 38% say they “moderately” do, according to a survey by consultant Lee Hecht Harrison.

Company’s survey succeeded because of employee trust

09/06/2012

After a major merger, Sims Metal Management in Princeton, N.J., polled employees to learn how engaged they were in their work, and got an overwhelming response. More than 90% of the employees responded to the organization’s first-ever employee engagement survey.

Stop the stragglers: 7 ways to start meetings on time

09/05/2012

Years ago, Jon was part of a three-member team with an important daily 10 a.m. meeting. The other two members were routinely late. “I had a decision to make,” he says. “What if I set the expectations for this team meeting going forward? What if I started the meeting on time—all by myself?” That’s exactly what he did.

Slackers need not apply to New Jersey training company

08/08/2012

The owners of interactive training company Red Nucleus make it a point to hire only what they call “passionate” employees. In fact, its website uses bold language to warn off would-be applicants who “go into work every day, go through the motions and go home.”