nora akins

January 1, 2008

The New Supervisor

Top performers are generally spotted as management material. These employees are offered an opportunity to step up when a management position becomes available. It’s viewed as a reward, as a method to keep the top performer engaged and to grow talent within the organization. The reality of losing the department’s top performer is quickly felt by the management team. This often gives rise to the new supervisor becoming a working manager; one who is asked to continue performing in the previous position, in addition to assuming overall departmental goals and personnel supervision. Most new supervisors believe they will have authority […]
November 1, 2007

Meeting Madness

Most employees bemoan the hours spent in meetings. In a recent online survey by Microsoft, employees stated they waste nearly two days of every work week. 42% indicated procrastination was the leading cause of wasted time; followed by 34% who felt ineffective meetings were the culprit. Senior managers spend between 11 and 23 hours per week in meetings, while all other employees spend an average of 5.5 hours per week according to a Wall Street Journal survey. A simple way to measure the cost of meetings is to calculate the hourly rates of those in attendance, multiplied by the hours […]
October 1, 2007

A Great First Impression

A new employee’s perception of the organization will be formed within their first few days of employment. The best message to send is one that is genuine, and indicates that employees are valued and supported. Most companies have an orientation program in place. Nearly half of all companies have Human Resource Departments that are responsible for coordinating the program and process. Many programs involve top management. The two objectives of an orientation program are to welcome and to train the new employee. Welcoming new employees to a company reduces the stress of a new job. The focus is on the […]
August 1, 2007

A Balancing Act

Creative time off benefits send an important message to employees. A message that communicates their employers understand employees have valuable lives outside of work. Flextime, telecommuting and compressed workweek are the most frequently offered creative time off programs. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2006 benefits survey report, 57% of employers offer flextime. Telecommuting , on an ad hoc basis is used by 45% of the 377 respondent companies – dropping to 26% part-time and 19% for full-time telecommuting. Compressed workweeks are used by 35% of the companies responding to the survey. Many employees choose not to […]