3 Tips on Organizing an Event

Carlos Salinas (left), George H.W. Bush and Br...

Image via Wikipedia

When you’re putting together any type of event, you will find that it can be a little overwhelming. There are some easy ways to keep from getting too overwhelmed by your event planning.

Get the Help you Need

No matter your event, you will find that you want a little bit of help. Whether you need a decorator or just someone who can rent you the tables and chairs that you need, you will need to call on others. Companies like Canada 411 can help you easily find anyone and everyone that you need. With a directory, you can search by area and by item. Therefore, if you need a table, you won’t get stuck calling rental companies that don’t carry chairs.

Advertise

One of the most important things to do when getting an event ready is to advertise it. If no one knows that it is happening, then no one will show up. Assuming that you want people there, you will need to get the word out. This can be done in many ways, ranging from a website to flyers. Any way you can think of to let people know about your event is a good idea.

Have Fun

Don’t forget to have fun, both with the planning and the event itself. Putting together a large event can be frustrating, difficult, and at times overwhelming. Don’t let these things get to you; keep in mind the point of the event. If you are helping a charity, for example, knowing that you are helping others can keep you going. Putting on a great event is a very rewarding activity.

Filed Under: Employment, Financial Tagged With: , ,

Become a Laborer and Start a Career

Laborer in bib overalls Digging the fire pit. 

Image via Wikipedia

It is extremely easy to look down upon manual labor jobs and think they are beneath most jobs. However, the skill and education required for a professional laborer is comparable to obtaining an associate’s degree. Not only do you use your body, you have to use your mind as well while on the job. The importance of not screwing up the laying down of asphalt or connecting a steel girder is the same as if it were a white-collar profession.

Working as a union laborer requires an education to ensure that you understand the job at hand. There is the initial education, a period of apprenticeship, then the right to become a full member, paying dues to the union. And contrary to popular belief, there are opportunities for advancement and higher pay within the unions.

What makes laborer jobs so much more than simple labor is the fact that any job that is performed has to be done to the utmost level of precision. It doesn’t matter if it is a roadway under construction or a brand new office building. If anything is less than true or askew from the blueprints, the project stops until the problem is fixed. And anyone exhibiting that level of incompetence is almost certainly out of a job.

Union laborer jobs require brains and learning skills to perform the job. Just as with a corporate position, the more brains and skill that are displayed, the better the chances of climbing up the pay scale and better titles. Dismissing the job of a laborer as being dead end is the biggest mistake anyone can make.

Filed Under: Career, Employment Tagged With: , ,

How to keep your employees happy

Employees love recongintion and reward.  A great salary package may keep a staff member for a period of time but for most people in the workforce what they yearn for is recognition, trust and genuine thanks from their employer.

Here are some tips to keep your team engaged and happy in the workplace.

  • Engage them in team activities.  Rather than choose the same venue with the same menu each year for the Christmas party get a committee going and make it a charity ball or a fundraiser.
  • Perks that won’t hurt your bottom line can make a great difference to morale.  Provide cereal and breakfast goods for staff to enjoy breakfast or fruit bowls to encourage healthy snacking and protect them from the sugar hit of the vending machine.  A few dollars spent here can be great for staff positivity.  The business also ben
    NEW YORK - JANUARY 08: Computers and work sta... 

    Image by Getty Images via @daylife

    efits from better productivity with alert staff starting earlier with a healthy breakfast inside them ready to face the day.

  • Regular staff meetings with two way communication.  Who benefits from being spoken to with the same, stale powerpoint slides as a back drop each month?  Make the meetings interactive. Get different departments to present to the team demonstrating what they do and their achievements.  This will help interaction of team members and also benefit the business by encouraging a team atmosphere along with understanding of the different cogs of the business wheel and how everyone contributes to the same goals.

Ultimately your employess want to feel that they are part of the company not simply working for one, try some of these tips and notice the difference!

Filed Under: Career, Employment Tagged With: , ,

How Employers Can Assess Where They Need To Focus Their Employee Training

Effective employee training is essential to having a successful business. Without the proper employee training companies face the possibility of offering services that they are not prepared for. Companies have a difficult task of focusing on the needs of a group of employees and determining what training needs to be offered. Here is a look at how companies can access their employees and figure out what needs to be offered when it comes to training.

Observe. The best way to figure out where extra training needs to happen in a group of employees is to observe them at their job. You will be able to see if there are any areas that are lacking or specific parts of the job that need to be reinforced.

Look Through Employee Performance. Almost every company keeps an employee performance record on file. By going through this you can find some areas that might need to be focused upon. For example, a sales company might notice that their employees do really well when approached about products but do not do well with cold calls. This would allow the company to focus on cold call training.

Focus on One Area at a Time. Employees are people and can become overwhelmed quickly. It is important that as a company you try to focus only on one area at a time. This means if you need to train in computers you focus on computers and leave safety to another day. This separate training schedule allows employees to focus on one area and develop it before moving on to another area that needs to be worked on.

Filed Under: Career, Employment Tagged With: , ,

A Successful Employee Orientation Setup

At almost every company there is some type of employee orientation. Employee orientation is a time when the company can introduce new employees to the company and welcome them into the family. In fact, a well developed employee orientation can often lead to high employee retention rates because the employees feel like they are part of something special. Here is an overview of the setup of an employee orientation that has been proven very successful.

Welcome. It is important to make the employees feel as if they are a welcome addiction to the company. Give all employees a hearty welcome and let them know how excited you are to have them on board. Many companies even has a small welcome packet that includes a welcome letter to the employees.

Tour of the Facilities/Policies. It is important to familiarize your new employees with the company layout and set up. Most employee orientations will include a tour of the facilities. It will also include an overview of the policies that the company has. If there are a lot then the company will overview the important rules and policies that should be followed. This is also a time where the company will overview payroll and human resource policies.

Benefits. During employee orientation a company will take the time to lay out the benefits that the employees will receive while they work for the company. These benefits can range from company incentives, discounts, health care and other incentives that can come from working with the company.

HR Questions. It is important to allow new employees to take time to ask questions. This is usually done at the end of the orientation.

Filed Under: Career, Employment Tagged With: , ,

Ways Employers Can Keep Employees At Their Company

When you are hiring a new employee for a company you always want to try to pick the employee that will last the longest. Long lasting employees are not only cost effective for the company but it also looks great to customers when you have employees that have been with the company for years. Here are some things a company can do to make their employee retention higher.

Look Over the Resume of New Employees. An employee’s resume can tell you a lot about them. It can show you if they completed college and how long they were employed with other companies. While these might not be signs of a good employee may companies will want to look for completing college courses or training programs and staying with companies for a decent amount of time. These are all signs that you might be hiring a good employee that will stay for a while.

Offer Incentives. Many companies have started to offer incentives for employees who stay a certain period of time. These might be monetary incentives, stock incentives, office incentives. Having these incentives put into place will allow employees to have something to look forward to and encourage them to stay with a company longer.

Employee Appreciation Day. It might seem corny to offer an employee appreciation day but research has shown that companies that offer this day have higher employee retention. Employee appreciation days show employees that their work and service to the company is appreciated and it could encourage them to stay with the company for a longer period of time.

Filed Under: Career, Employment Tagged With: , ,

Questions Employers Can Ask to Assess Employee Training

Companies often feel as if they know exactly how employees need to be trained and what they need to learn. However, no one knows better what needs to be focused on when it comes to employee training than those that actually do the job. This is why many companies and human resource department utilize an employee survey on employee training and education. If you are conducting an employee survey on training and education here are some areas you can focus on to get quality survey results.

Basic Training. Employee surveys can ask employees how they feel they were trained when they first joined the company. Survey makers can ask questions such as “Were you prepared properly for your job” and “What do you feel you should have learned during the training session”. These answers will allow companies to know what to add to their new employee training sessions.

Continuing Education. Employee surveys can ask employees if there is anything that they feel they should be learning. It can also focus on certain skills that might need to be updated or relearned. These answers will allow employers to know what type of continuing education courses they should offer to their current employees.

New Employee Training. Employee surveys can also ask employees if they notice new employees are coming in prepared. This will allow veteran employees to assess the new employees and their knowledge. It will also allow companies to determine where they need to focus their energies when it comes to new employee training.

Filed Under: Career, Employment Tagged With: , ,

Employer Benefits of Offering Safety Training

It might seem as if it was common knowledge how to be safe at work but recent research shows that employers that offer their employees constant safety classes and training may actually benefit in the long run. There are many benefits that employers receive by offering employee safety courses periodically throughout the year.

The first benefit that employers get from employee safety courses is the ability to save money. When employees are properly trained in how to be safe on the job and how to properly do their job they avoid the risk of getting injured while on the job. Injuries on the job can cost a company thousands of dollars because the employee will file for worker’s compensation which the company will eventually have to pay the government for. The more employees that get injured over a certain period the higher the rates a company pays. This is why it is beneficial to teach employees safety.

The second benefit that employers receive from employees that know the proper safety standards is a higher level of work productivity. When employees are afraid of their work conditions they will work at a slower rate. However, if they are trained in how to be safe they can work faster and more efficiently. Safety courses also help to reduce the amount of injuries in employees which can lead to decreased amount of workers and therefore less productivity of the overall company.

The third benefit that employers receive by teaching their employees proper safety standards is the ability to retain a high number of employees. Many employees view employers who do not offer safety courses in a bad light. By taking the time and resources to offer safety courses an employer stands a chance of retaining their employees because they are viewed favorably and in a good light.

Filed Under: Education, Employment Tagged With: , ,

Benefits of Offering Computer Based Training

One of the hardest parts of creating a company wide training session is figuring out exactly what time works for all employees. Employers have the problem of trying to coordinate everyone’s personal and work schedule in order to offer a simple training session. This seemingly impossible task has been made easier by computer based training software. Computer based training software is computer software that offers the training sessions that employers wish to have their employees go through. Employers stand to benefit greatly by offering a computer based training system.

The first benefit that employers get with a computer based training system is the ability to customize the training sessions. This means that employees are not wasting their time sitting through a training session that has nothing to do with their job. Employers can submit certain training sessions to individuals so that it is targeted to their specific job needs.

The second benefit that employers get with the computer based training system is the ability to have everyone trained without having to interfere with everyone’s schedule. A computer based training software program can be accessed on any computer, anywhere. There is no need to have to force everyone to sit down for a specific time frame and listen to a lecture or watch a video. Instead everyone can do it on their own time and not have it interfere with work or personal lives.

The last benefit of a computer based training system is the ability to have everyone learn at their own pace. Some employees learn quicker than others and will get bored quickly with the training session. A computer based training system will allow employees to learn at their own pace so if they learn faster they can get through the training faster and if they need time to focus on certain elements they can do so.

Filed Under: Education, Employment Tagged With: , ,

Benefits of Offering Employer Funded Training

Many employers assume that once an employee is trained in the job that they are going to perform they do not need any other training. However, that is not the case. Studies have shown that employers who offer employer funded training have a higher retention rate of employees as well as a more efficient workforce. In fact, these are just some of the benefits that come from training employees. Here is a look at some of the other benefits that come from training employees.

The first benefit of offering employer funded training is the ability to invest in that particular employee. Employers who offer training to the various employees are investing in their company’s future. Employees who are trained in various areas are more likely to want to succeed with the company that trained them and will try to do their best work in an effort to advance. Employers who offer training get hard working individuals who are dedicated to the company.

The second benefit that comes from offering employer funded training is an overall improved job skills. Every employer wishes to have the best of the best when it comes to their employees. This will entice customers to want to choose that particular company in the future. When an employer offers employee training it not only helps advance the employees skills but it ups the level of work that they do so that customers will get the level of care and quality of work they need.

The last benefit that comes from offering employer funded training is the overall satisfaction of employer and employee. When employers and employees are satisfied they are more likely to do a better job than when they are dissatisfied. Satisfied employees will also stay with a company longer than those that are unsatisfied.

Filed Under: Employment, Financial Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts