Leadership/Management

The Best Boss: What Your Employees Want From You

What Does it Take To Be A Great Boss? As the owner and operator of your business, you have likely wondered “what makes a great boss?” There are a number of key characteristics great bosses share. The team at Optimum Employer Solutions, an HR outsourcing company, has gathered together some of the top characteristics that…

Are You Leading or Managing Your Employees?

Difference between leading and managing Being a leader is not something you learn overnight. One of the most important things to learn is when to actually lead and when you should step aside and let your employees play a more active role. Many managers struggle with this concept. There are several reasons why this may occur, including:…

How to Encourage Creativity in Employees

Encouraging Creativity Sometimes the daily grind can affect all of us in such a way that we shut down and go on autopilot. When that happens (and usually it’s in the winter!), it’s important to shake ourselves and our staff out of robot mode. Here’s a few ways to encourage more creativity and idea generation…

Do Employee Incentives Work?

Employee Incentives- what’s the deal? Employee incentives, the rewarding of work performance, loyalty, innovative ideas, and sales excellence, are used by more than half of American companies, according to the Incentive Research Foundation. Incentives such as trips, awards, and cash might kickstart staff excitement and productivity in the short term. However, research has found that…

Increasing Employee Morale

Does Employee Morale Affect Company Culture? Happy employees are productive employees. Improving the productivity level in the workplace benefits both the team members and management alike. So how do you keep morale up in the workplace? We’ve compiled a few tips. Recognize employee contributions:  Let your employees know you value their work. Tell them they’re…

Employee Engagement Tips

Employee Engagement Tips While providing a challenging work environment and a solid work culture are important for adequately engaging your employees, you may find that you need to go a step above the norm to make sure your employees are engaged. Here are several tips for better engaging your employees: If you are looking for…

The Value in Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Peer Recognition Programs Rising in Popularity Praising your employees for a job well done is important, but you probably already knew this. More recently, however, companies are implementing peer-to-peer recognition programs. What is a peer-to-peer recognition program, you ask? This is a tool for allowing employees to give praise to another team member. Recognizing hard…

Surprising Reasons Your Employees Aren’t Using Their Vacation Time

Understanding Vacation Time A recent study by the Pew Research Center concludes that 46 percent of American workers left vacation time on the table last year. Many European workers, particularly those in France, Scandinavia, and Germany, routinely take off six weeks of vacation time per year. Americans, on the other hand, leave an estimated 429…

Competing for Top Talent As a Small Business

Attracting Top Employees If you’re a small company, it’s not always easy to provide the “large-scale” perks potential employees crave. Or so you might think. While it’s true that supremely qualified employees may be courted by many companies, there are a few things you can offer that can put you in the frontrunner’s spot: 1)…