Small Business Faces Stark Choices

The Wall Street Journal reports on a disturbing trend – more and more small businesses are dropping their employee health insurance.

Who’s Next?

Dr. Steven Berglas is a business coach who writes columns for Forbes, and in his latest column he offers some painful observations on family businesses planning to pass the torch onto the next generation.

Team Building Or Team Busting?

The Evil HR Lady takes on team building events this week… and suggests that if you must, plan them carefully and considerately.

New Jim Collins Book Excerpted

At Payroll Solutions, all executives have a copy of Jim Collins’ business book classic: Good To Great.

Now, Collins has a new book out, and it’s excerpted in Business Week – right here.

Dark Cloud’s Silver Lining?

People are getting fired. Profits will never be the same. It’s 1929 all over again. The guy on the corner tells you, “It’s a recession. Times are tough.”

So why is Stephen Covey, the best-selling author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, feeling all upbeat? Because he believes that a positive cultural shift is occurring as we speak, and that firms that empower their employees are about to blossom. From Forbes.

Less People, Same Job: How Do You Do It?

The flywheel’s the same size – bigger, maybe – but your staff has been downsized.

Forbes looks at how to manage with fewer people.

Free Software!

That’s a cheap ploy. Bait and switch. And HR blogger Gireesh Sharma explains why, in this posting.

Working Harder May Be Its Own Reward

More and more employees are being asked to work harder and take on greater responsibility, thanks to recession-trimming of many workforces. Should remaining employees be paid more?

Ann Bares, over at Compensation Cafe, says that sometimes, employees place great value on the opportunity to play a more important role at your company, and an immediate compensation hike may not be as valuable.

Here’s her complete posting.

Successful Employee Communications Tips

Here is tip number four from the HR Guy’s five steps to better employee communication:

Use a contact person for your employees that question everything. Employees should be clear that they can speak to the contact person if they have any questions. Often times, these are the same people every time that question everything and always have way more questions than everyone else. A contact person can save you from writing a novel for a couple of people that question everything.

Tom Peters From China

Longtime Leadership guru Tom Peters writes from China… and you won’t want to miss it.