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Productivity / Performance

Changing employee behavior: 8 simple steps for ‘the talk’

02/11/2014

Smart business people know it’s more profitable to keep existing customers than constantly having to find new ones. That’s because the costs of acquiring new customers are so high. The same principle applies to employees.

Speed up a team slowpoke

02/01/2014
Every team has at least one employee who is slow to deliver work. The person almost always is the reason the team falls behind or fails to meet goals. Ramp up the energy and output of a slowpoke with these tips:

Progressive Discipline

01/18/2014

HR Law 101: The most reliable way to protect your organization from charges of wrongful discharge is to establish and enforce a system of progressive discipline. Make it clear to all your supervisors that they’re expected to abide by your policy …

Do annual reviews work? A case study, success story & interview

01/15/2014

When Suzanne Benoit, SPHR, joined Wright-Ryan Con­­struc­­tion as its HR director, she learned that the company had been using an annual performance review process that wasn’t yielding the results it wanted. She then created a new process designed to improve performance, accountability and employee engagement. Here’s a conversation we recently had about how that process worked and its results.

5 key actions good employees take to create great work

01/15/2014

Truly great work produces an outcome that makes a difference. It’s work that moves results from good to great—for example, improving a process, saving a customer or increasing revenues. Truly great work is produced by people who routinely do the same five things, says David Sturt, executive vice president of O.C. Tanner.

Tuesday packs biggest productivity punch

01/07/2014
If work is getting done, it’s probably a Tuesday. By a wide margin, that’s our most productive day of the week, according to an Accountemps poll of HR managers.

ADA: Essential Functions

12/31/2013

HR Law 101: An employer needn’t hire a disabled person if he or she lacks the requisite skills, experience and education for the job in question. But if the deciding factor is the disability, you must prove that the condition interferes with what the ADA terms the “essential functions” of the job …

Accommodation failing? Focus on performance

12/13/2013
Employers must reasonably accommodate disabled workers so they can perform the essential functions of their jobs. But what should you do if you have made accommodations and they don’t seem to be working?

Holiday cybershopping could kill productivity

12/10/2013
Over half of workers (54%) expect to spend some time at work shopping online for the holidays, up from 49% last year, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.

3 holiday headaches could slow down work

11/27/2013
The period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day typically finds employees distracted—if they’re at work at all. Head off a big productivity slump by anticipating these three problems.