The Thriving Small Business

4 Tips For Reducing Absenteeism in the Workplace

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I had a question from a reader who asked, “Do you see the causes of workplace absenteeism as a management problem or a personal problem?”

Second, “what do you think is the most effective way of reducing employee absenteeism in the workplace?”

Excessive absenteeism can be caused by any number of things – personal problems, employee performance issues, lack of clear expectations or a dysfunctional work environment. Read the Full Article →

7 Advantages of Offering Paid Time Off

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Many organizations provide paid time off benefits for their employees.

Getting a paid for not working is a great benefit.

Just ask anyone who works in the trades, like a carpenter, cement finisher, brick layer, etc. who only get paid when they work!

Paid time off benefits can be packaged in any number of ways. Read the Full Article →

How to Transition an Employee to Supervisor

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Many organizations use succession planning as a means to develop and promote employees from within. This strategy should be included in the organizations business objectives.

Succession planning benefits both the employer and the employee.

The employer saves recruitment costs and the time associated with developing a new employee. The employee is given the opportunity for advancement and professional growth. Read the Full Article →

6 Tips to Help Employees Manage Their Time

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Managing time at work is a challenge for everyone.

We all go to work with good intentions. However, we can all be easily distracted and pulled into things that don’t necessarily contribute to meeting objectives.

Employees can learn to manage their time with training and practice.

However, even the best time managers struggle with those inevitable time thieves. Read the Full Article →

5 Stages of Team Development

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Team development is a structured process of taking a group of people (employees, students, volunteers, committee members, etc.), teaching them to appreciate the differences each brings to the table and learning to work toward a shared goal.

Work groups become a cohesive team when they learn to appreciate differences.

This cohesion helps the group to meet goal objectives in an efficient way. Read the Full Article →

10 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Employee Fraud

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Employee fraud costs businesses billions of dollars every year.

According to a 2008 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), 994 billion dollars is lost every year to employee fraud.

This equates to businesses losing a staggering 2.7 billion dollars every day!

ACFE defines occupational fraud as:  “the use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the organization’s resources or assets.”

“Fraud is now so common that its occurrence is no longer remarkable, only its scale. Read the Full Article →

3 Reasons You Need to Manage Employee Performance

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Having a strategy for business growth is imperative to success.

And, creating SMART business goals are the best way to achieve those objectives.

However, goals and objectives are only as effective as the people who have responsibility for completing them.

Managing employee performance is how work gets done and goals are accomplished.  Read the Full Article →

6 Tips For Managing Employee Goals

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If you’re a new manager, or maybe a manger who has been managing for a while, you realize how difficult it is to keep the day-to-day operations of a business going and the challenge of constantly striving to take the organization to the next level.

Not every manager knows how to write goals, but goals are an important part of the performance management process and are used to achieve business objectives. Read the Full Article →

5 Forms of Coaching Employees

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Coaches can have a positive affect on the development of employees.

Many organizations encourage their leadership team to coach employees in performance,  skill development and career planning.

We all come from different backgrounds and have differing frames of references.

Some people are taught professionalism growing up and others have never been exposed to proper business protocol or etiquette. Read the Full Article →

5 Steps to Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

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Conflict in the workplace is an inevitable reality.  This is why it is so important to understand what causes conflict in business and to have a conflict resolution plan in place to address it when it happens.

Conflict is defined as, “to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance or in opposition; clash to fight or contend; do battle.”

Conflict can be the result of competition in the workplace.  

Read the Full Article →