LUSH naked party: Going green at work gone too far?

Employees at LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics stores went to work on Wednesday wearing nothing but their aprons to persuade customers to buy products free of packaging.

The company encouraged employees in 24 cities across the country to lead the “cheeky” protest, by showing up to work wearing only aprons reading “ASK ME WHY I’M NAKED.” The aprons (and lack of clothing underneath) are meant to prompt discussion with passers-by on the impact packaged goods have on the environment.

All planet-saving discussion aside, the company seems to have overlooked some serious workplace issues involved with their naked event ... starting with sexual harassment.

From New York Magazine:

“The publicity stunt, a spokesperson explained, was the company's idea, but employees chose whether to comply. While some clearly reveled in the attention, as the crowd grew larger, others seemed to be feeling regretful about their choice.

We asked store manager Jennifer Paulson, who kept herself firmly pressed against the store wall, why she had chosen to go naked. "Because we keep our products unpackaged so nothing goes to the landfill," she said like a good employee, then worried aloud: "Someone was videotaping so now I'm worried I'm going to be on YouTube!”

Among a list of other questions - What if an employee is not comfortable going to work naked? Or someone feels peer pressured to bare it all just because every other employee at the store is doing it? What if an employee feels like an outcast for wanting to wear a pair of pants to the naked party?

Has LUSH taken going green at work a little too far and managed to create a sexual harassment mess in the process?

New online tool for low-cost employee training

CareerBuilder.com just launched CBInstitute.com, a new online education site designed to help workers improve job skills with online courses.

The courses are created by leading industry specialists covering such topics as computer skills, language training, business skills, management and leadership training, and sales training. Courses cost about $30 to $50 on average, with a few soft skills courses starting at $9.99 and workers can try out free demos before purchasing.

While developed mainly for people who want to make themselves more attractive during a job search, the site gives employers have the option to enroll current employees in courses.

Even though budgets are tight, there are cost-effective solutions out there like CBInstitute.com that help you keep employee training in-house and current.

In a recent Fortune article, management expert Ram Charan advises companies that may be struggling financially to not cut back on employee development.

“Sacrificing your future for a slightly more comfortable present is not worth it. If you keep building, you can come back strong.”

Especially during an economic downturn, it is more important than ever for businesses to retain existing talent. Offering employees online courses to better their job skills will not online improve productivity and the bottom line, but will also show employees that they are truly valued and the company cares enough to want them to grow professionally.

Has your company cut back on employee training? What solutions have you found that help you continue training employees on a tight budget?

Employee wellness programs gone wild

If obesity were like the Olympics, Alabama would hold the bronze.

Following Mississippi and West Virginia, Alabama ranks third highest among the fattest states in the nation, according to an analysis by CalorieLab.

In a state weighed down by Southern fried delicacies, it’s no wonder that the state recently made headlines with a plan to start charging unfit, overweight state workers.

From Time.com:

“The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit — or they'll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free.”

Alabama has seen positive results with a similar program encouraging workers to quit smoking, so they’ve remodeled the plan to target unhealthy employees.

“The State Employees' Insurance Board this week approved a plan to charge state workers starting in January 2010 if they don't have free health screenings.

If the screenings turn up serious problems with blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or obesity, employees will have a year to see a doctor at no cost, enroll in a wellness program, or take steps on their own to improve their health. If they show progress in a follow-up screening, they won't be charged. But if they don't, they must pay starting in January 2011.”

Alabama will be charging obese state workers, Japan is measuring employee waistlines, there are biggest loser competitions in the office and something called a ‘calorie tax’ ... what’s next on the employee wellness front?

Do you think wellness programs are helping employees or are they an ineffective and wasteful attempt to reduce health care costs?

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

The economy is down, the unemployment rate is at a four-year high and the cost of commuting is taking a toll on workers across the country. You can’t control the economy and gas prices, but your actions have a direct impact on employee morale at your company.

Especially if you’ve been through a round of layoffs or hiring freezes, keeping morale high for those employees still with the company is one of your top priorities. People who feel they are being treated fairly and honestly by an organization will be more inclined to stick it out, through good financial times or bad.

Happy employees are loyal employees who want to do their best to see the company succeed. Keep them happy and use these five tips to build employee morale in a down economy:

1. Focus on the positive. If all you’re talking about is how bad things are, that’s all your employees will be thinking about. Sympathize with employees, but remain optimistic.

2. Forbid rumors. One tiny lie or piece of conversation taken out of context can wreak havoc on morale. Squelch rumors, however small they may be, as soon as you hear them and encourage employees to do the same.

3. Recognize employees without breaking the bank. Studies show that simple employee incentives work just as well as handing out raises. Read one of our past posts with creative employee incentive ideas on a budget to help you get started.

4. Keep training employees. Employees who participate in company-sponsored training are more loyal and engaged. Training shows employees that the company cares enough to invest time and resources in their career development. Review our tips for employee training on a budget.

5. Start telecommuting. Telecommuting is a proven way to improve employee morale, productivity and retention. By allowing employees to telecommute just one or two days out of the week, you will cut business costs and employee stress.


There’s more than one way to improve sentiments in the workplace, but all involve hard work and dedication. Overlooking the impact of how workers are feeling during tough economic times will drain employee confidence and have many looking for greener pastures. Be careful not to kill morale with promises you can’t deliver on, skimping on necessary business tools or creating distrust among employees.

Tough times will test employee dedication and only the best will stick it out. Ensure you’ve done all you can to keep enthusiasm high, even while the going gets tough.

Dabbleboard: New online collaboration tool

Want to think and communicate visually with remote employees? Try Dabbleboard.

Dabbleboard is the latest online whiteboard tool helping teams communicate and share ideas from anywhere in the world. While there are other digital whiteboards out there, the biggest perks with Dabbleboard are how clean drawings come out and the ability to collaborate in real time.

Since most of us are very unskilled when it comes to drawing with a mouse, Dabbleboard recognizes common shapes (circles, lines, boxes, etc.) and redraws them neatly. Real-time collaboration makes it simple for multiple users to be in the program and drawing at the same time.

Dabbleboard produces attractive and easy to share documents. You can type and insert images anywhere on the board, stop working at any time and continue the drawing later by saving it for private or public use. Drawings can be emailed, downloaded in PNG format, or easily shared by sending a URL.

The coolest part - it’s free. So, take the tour and give it a try.

Why drug testing might not protect your hospital

The costs are high. The risks are even higher.

Especially for a hospital or other health care facility, where controlled substances may be within reach every day.

The problem is employee drug use and on-the-job impairment. The solution? That’s where the debate begins.


Is pre-employment and random drug testing the answer?

In theory

Standard wisdom promotes pre-employment drug testing, often with random follow-up testing of current employees. This process, it has been argued, will reduce the incidence of drug use on the job, and help us in achieving the goal of a drug free workplace. This is turn will reduce the costs associated with drug use: absenteeism, poor job performance, critical job errors and turnover.


The problems

Unfortunately, some studies have called in question the usefulness of blanket preemployment drug testing, even in medical settings. In an article in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, one study found little or no correlation between drug testing and reducing those costs. Further, they found that drug testing was frequently inequitably applied, inaccurate and often required further, expensive testing to rule out false positives.

Another article in Addiction Professional Journal reported in July of this year that while test positive rates are declining, actual on the job drug use is increasing. They attribute the discrepancy to both lack of controls and easy access to dilutants and other result-altering substances in local communities and online.


Why drug testing still might help

Others claim that the process of drug testing, while admittedly flawed, works as an effective deterrent to drug and alcohol use among job applicants and employees. The chance that they might be caught by a test, even if the test is imperfect, may stop some employees from using drugs if they want to get or keep a job.

For that purpose, on-the-spot drug testing may provide the highest level of accuracy and deterrent effect. It’s difficult to prepare for something you do not know is coming. Develop a clear drug free workplace policy, and make sure your employees are aware of the standards and penalties.

As you articulate your policy and its goals, keep in mind the rules governing drug testing in your state or province. Many states ban job site testing and almost all have mandatory notification requirements to notify employees of their rights during and after a workplace drug test.


Alternatives to drug testing

A Journal of Occupational Health Management article by Raphael H. Warshaw offered a different way to measure employee impairment, and effectively screen applicants. He suggests performance based assessment tools as a better tool. His sentiments were independently echoed in articles in Inc. Magazine and on several online HR journals.

Task, neurological and biometric performance tests can measure even small amounts of impairment, and cannot be fooled by dilutants, nor can anyone else take the test (a common problem with urine testing.). These tests get to the heart of what drug testing was supposed to do – evaluate whether applicant or employee “A” can safely and effectively perform the tasks needed for a given job. And since fatigue and stress can impair performance as much as drug or alcohol use, these tests actually provide a larger picture of employee abilities such as response time, dexterity and precision.

While performance tests may be less convenient – they need to be repeated regularly to pick up impairment due to substances or other stressors – they are extremely effective in detecting what drug testing initially promised – impairment of essential skills and judgment.

Corporate volunteering builds teamwork, improves employee retention

Looking to build teamwork in the office, but running out of ideas? Ditch the office and volunteer.

More than just a fun day out, volunteering strengthens employee bonds and improves teamwork. Bosses value volunteering because of the positive image it creates for the company in the eyes of the community.

Of course the community will appreciate it, but your employees will love it. When employees are engaged, happy and know their employer is doing good in the community, they’ll be hard-pressed to leave.

Whether it’s painting a nursing home activity center, planting a garden or setting up a neighborhood playground, employees work toward a common goal that is tangible and something they can share pride in.

Major companies like IBM, Ernst & Young, and UPS have been featured in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal for their philanthropic work in the community. Some are even saying that getting paid to volunteer is the next trend in corporate perks.

Your company may not have the same size budget as major retailers and community service leaders like Gap and Target, you can still create a program where employees get paid to give back.

Designing a employee volunteer program starts with four key steps, according to Tory Johnson at World Volunteer Web. Employers must determine their goals for volunteering, then select the right project, create a schedule and monitor the progress.

Here are some great places to get started:

Habitat for Humanity - help build a home for a deserving local family.

Meals on Wheels - deliver a meals to people in need.

American Red Cross - support community members devastated by disaster.

Volunteer Match - find volunteer opportunities in your area.

Open with ice breakers for effective learning

Ice breakers can help you open a meeting or training session by lightening the mood and encouraging audience participation. If you have a team working together for the first time or are introducing new employees, they can also ease the discomfort that goes along with meeting strangers.

“Ice breakers and energizers heighten the effectiveness of learning sessions when targeted to the training, speaking, or facilitation topic and the needs of the learners or participants,” according to Scott McArthur at McArthur’s Rant.

Enhance audience retention and foster learning by opening up your next training session, meeting or seminar with a fun, new ice breaker activity.

Here’s one easy ice breaker idea, all you need is a pen and pad of sticky notes:

What’s my name?

As each person enters the room, have them write the name of a famous person on a sticky note. Have participants stand or sit in a circle. Keeping the names hidden, place sticky notes on the participants’ foreheads.

One by one, each person asks ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to determine the name of the famous person posted on their forehead. Depending on how much time you have, set a limit to how many questions each person can ask before they guess the name on their sticky note.

Go from person to person until everyone has guessed right or wrong. If you have a large group, break them down into manageable teams of 5 or 6.

When using a new ice breaker idea at work keep three things in mind:

1. Carefully choose the right one, McArthur liked this list - Ice Breakers, Energizers, and Activities
2. Follow the Do’s and Don’ts of ice breakers - keep it simple and don’t force people to participate.
3. Make sure the activity you choose isn’t listed in the “Top Worst Corporate Icebreakers,” or you “can kiss your dreams of a professional first impression goodbye.”

Job perks and employee recognition during tough times

During tough economic times, employers start examining where they can cut costs and eliminate “unnecessary benefits and perks.” But, there’s still one tried-and-true employee motivator that has stood the test of time (and budget cuts) - the compliment.

When done right, compliments can be a powerful form of employee recognition that help employers hang onto top performers even when budgets are stretched tight. Learn to deliver compliments correctly and employees will feel valued enough to weather through the tough times.

J.T. O’Donnell at CAREEREALISM says many management teams don’t understand how to effectively deliver compliments and usually mix up appreciation with compliments, two very different things.

“When you appreciate people, you tell them how you rely on them - what value they provide you. When you compliment people, you are telling them what you admire about them, a.k.a. what makes them better than others at something specific. In short, appreciation says, “I need you” while complimenting says, “I respect that thing you do.” The difference is subtle, but the impact in the workplace is significant. In my opinion, when you give too much appreciation without compliments, it backfires.”

Employees who feel they are needed and respected will believe they are valued within their team or organization. Those valued employees will also feel successful and satisfied in their position and will strive to perform at their best.

Compliments should be given by managers, but also by coworkers and employees themselves, according to O’Donnell. Employees who distribute “sincere, honest and accurate” compliments will make ideal coworkers to keep around.

“Giving compliments at work is like giving someone a surprise party on their birthday. It is an unexpected gesture that provides great joy. And, when you make someone happy, you put them in a better frame of mind – which means they’re likely to be more receptive and open to new challenges, not to mention better able to contribute and help others as well.”

Make an impression on someone today and take O’Donnell up on his challenge - “Do you have what it takes to give a great compliment?”

Try his compliment challenge today and find out how compliments can improve coworker relationships, make you feel good and how simple (and free!) they are to hand out.

IDidWork: Employee performance in 160 characters or less

So, performance review time is just around the corner and you’re scratching your head, digging through lists of emails, scouring through piles of notepads, trying to remember exactly what each of your team members completed in the past year.

In big companies it can be difficult to track employee productivity on a daily or weekly basis, leading supervisors to make judgments based on work that seems productive, like employees coming in early everyday or working through lunch.

Make it a little easier next year and base employee progress decisions on hard evidence with IDidWork, a new performance tracking website that feels a lot like Twitter, but for work.

With IDidWork, employees log daily tasks in short, 160 character entries. Come review time, employees can submit a progress report to their manager in the form of a chart, graph or simple summary. Managers can easily deliver feedback through the system and even “grade” employee progress.

From a training perspective, IDidWork can be used to track employee progress during a training program or monitor how an employee is implementing what they learned into their daily routine. Supervisors can clearly see how employees are progressing, even if employees aren’t in the office everyday.


With more employees telecommuting, the service may offer a better solution for remotely tracking employee performance. If the boss isn’t a fan of IDidWork, remote employees can still use it as a time management tool, tracking personal progress and analyzing where they’re spending most of their time.

Employees collaborating on a project can use IDidWork to share individual progress, almost eliminating the need for status meetings. Employees can see where each team member is within the project and track the team’s overall progress.

Right now the service is free, but the founders do plan on charging a fee after the service gains a following. They also have expansion plans including integrated desktop widgets and customized performance breakdowns.

The possibilities for the IDidWork are endless: employees tracking their time while working from home, students managing their study time or fitness junkies following their workout progress.

Depending on your line of work, it could be a big help from managing projects to writing performance reviews. Get your team on board and give it a try while it’s free, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Friday office humor: Olympics at work

The games have begun and chances are that one in ten employees will be watching some part of the 2008 Olympics at the office, according to a recent survey. Just like during March Madness, some employers are worried that employees will be watching more than working.

While those employers stress out over lost productivity and overloaded networks, others will embrace the games. With events like cubicle hurdles and the trash can long jump, people are finding ways to not just watch the Olympics at work, but participate in them as well.

Anyone who is familiar with “The Office” would probably smile when you mention “Office Olympics.” In one of the most memorable episodes from the second season, the boss is out and the Dunder Mifflin employees hold Olympic-style office competitions.

If you’re unfamiliar with the show, Lauren Kleinman at Jobacle wrote up instructions on how to hold your own Office Olympics, by simply following these four steps:

1. Promote it. No one will participate if they know it doesn’t exist. (With the big guys’ permission, of course) Hang fliers, send emails and wake up all the people sleeping on their desks and get them involved in the events.


2. Make it authentic. Make your events as much like the real Olympics as possible. Create fake torches, posters with the Olympic rings and download the official Olympic soundtrack.


3. Set up events. Office Olympic events can be completely set up with everyday objects in the office, take a look at some ideas from the Official Office Olympics site for “instructional” videos on events like the Office Chair Swamp, Chair Hop Do and Chariot Races.


4. Reward the winners. No Olympic event is complete without a medal ceremony. Create gold, silver and bronze medal equivalents with everyday items around the office. On “The Office,” Pam saved yogurt lids for the medals, attaching them to paperclip necklaces to get the full effect.

Let the games begin!

How you can offset rising health care costs in 2009

The bad news: There will be a double digit rise in health care costs in 2009.

The good news: It’s the smallest increase over the past six years and you can do something to minimize the pain.

Heath care costs are predicted to rise more than 10 percent next year, according to an Aon Consulting Worldwide survey of insurers. It’s the smallest increase over the past six years, leading experts to believe that employers’ actions to improve employee health are paying off.

In order to save more money on heath care in the future, companies must spend more money on health care now, according to health care industry experts.

“CFOs have always viewed health care as an expense, but rarely as an investment” said Jerry Ripperger, director of consumer health at the Principal Financial Group. “But improving the health of your employee base, rather than simply providing reimbursements, is an exercise in risk management with a true ROI.”

Unless your company has the resources and staff size to warrant an on-site clinic, your best bet is to develop an employee wellness program. Relatively simple and cost-effective to set up, wellness programs have proven to be a healthy investment.

Overall, employers have seen a $2.45 reduction in medical claims for every dollar spent implementing an employee wellness program, according to Ripperger in Workforce Management.

Not only do wellness programs reduce the amount of employee doctor visits by improving overall health, they create more loyal and engaged employees.

According to the Maritz study, employees who participate in their company wellness program:

• have significantly higher job satisfaction levels,
• are more likely to remain at with the company long term,
• and are more likely to recommend the company as an employer to friends and family.
  

Even employees who occasionally participate in a wellness program feel more engaged with their employer than those who never participate. Active and sporadic participants also have lower absenteeism, taking significantly less sick-time than employees who chose not to participate at all.

What you can do: Start an employee wellness program with a high number of participating employees and you’ll have higher productivity and engagement, better employee health, lower absenteeism, and lower health-care premiums.

5 simple ways to transfer knowledge between Gen Y and Baby Boomer employees

Currently, there are about 76 million Baby Boomers in the workforce, with 19 million ready to retire by 2011, according to the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). Most organizations have done little or nothing to retain the valuable corporate knowledge retiring employees possess.

In May, i4cp surveyed 118 organizations to find out “what they have done or plan to do about tapping into the knowledge experience of Boomers as they approach retirement.” They found:

• The majority (71%) of survey respondents said their organization did not incorporate retirement forecasts into knowledge transfer practices.
• Only one-third incorporate a skills gap analysis into their retirement forecasts.
• Less than a quarter (23%) said they train managers in the art of critical skills transfer.
  

Another study by the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations backs up the i4cp findings. In a similar survey from February 2008, the Association found only 28% of over 400 small business owners are working on knowledge transfer plans and only 4% have a formal plan to transfer knowledge to younger employees.

Even with all the buzz and statistics about “Boomer brain drains” and lagging knowledge transfer plans, many have found a simple way to get started - teamwork.

Earlier this year, Tammy Erickson from Harvard Business published an article chronicling the ‘love fest’ between Baby Boomers and Generation Y. Her research found that Gen Yers and Boomers enjoy spending time together and learning from each other.

Gen Ys enjoy the challenge:

“Y’s, when faced with a new challenge, tend to function like a heat-seeking missile – single-mindedly pursuing the person in the organization with the most relevant experience. In many cases, this person is a Boomer – often in some distant part of the organization, or several hierarchical levels removed. This approach reflects how Y’s like to learn – from an expert, just-in-time, and in response to the specific challenge they need to address. And it reflects their comfort in relating to Boomers on a peer basis, developed over an adolescence of friendly interaction with their parents and parents’ friends.”

Boomers like the recognition and a chance to learn:

“Boomers are finding they enjoy the questions (once they get over the shock of receiving emails or text messages from very junior employees) and the obvious recognition of their expertise. They are even learning a lot themselves – new ways of communicating and thinking about getting things done.”

We know it has to be done and employees enjoy learning from each other, but how do we facilitate knowledge transfer across generations?

Margery Weinstein from Training Day shared a great idea in a post yesterday:

“To make knowledge transfer efforts more salient, pair up out-going workers with promising Gen Y and X'ers. Giving their presentations together will spice up the lesson. One way to do it is by having the Gen Y or X'er interview the retiring chieftain about his/her legacy and the company's upcoming challenges. Then have the old guy/gal on the block pose a few questions to the fledgling. Rather than let a perhaps partly loved/partly loathed executive get away with self-congratulatory rambling for an hour, this give-and-take approach is potentially more substantive.

Whether savior or ogre, you thought enough of them to capture their wisdom. They shouldn't mind fielding a few questions about their corporate savior/ogre methodology.”

Embrace the “love fest” and get your Boomers and Gen Y/Gen Xers working together. Here are some ideas for fostering corporate knowledge transfer from older to younger generations:

• Set up interviews. Use Weinstein’s idea and pair together retiring workers with promising younger employees. Let the pairs interview each other and create a presentation on their findings.
• Develop a shadowing program. Like an apprentice learning from a skilled craftsman, have your younger employees shadow older workers for a given period of time.
• Teamwork. Many employees learn best by doing, so find an upcoming project that the pair can work on together.
• Let them eat cake. Or at least lunch, on the company’s tab. Send the pair to lunch for some one-on-one bonding time. It will help them develop a personal relationship, rather than strictly focusing on work.
• Make it fun. Set up fun activities around the office for your Gen Y/Boomer pairs to participate in. If they know they can have fun together, there’s something they can learn from each other.

Teamwork between your Baby Boomer and Generation Y employees is the key to slowing the “brain drain.” Find opportunities to connect the generations together and keep valuable corporate knowledge from walking out the door with retiring employees.

Did you get the latest edition of TrainingTime's Monthly Newsletter "Training Trends"?

No? Well, if you haven't gotten a chance to sign up for it yet, here is a sample of one of the training articles that appeared in the August edition of Training Trends so you can see for yourself what you are missing.

8 Ways to Kill Employee Morale

There are countless articles and books that promise to tell employers how to boost employee morale. They may or may not be right, but there is something we all can be certain about. There are easy ways to kill employee morale. Thoroughly. Some of them are simple; some take time. But they all work.

So with some levity and a lot of truth, here are 8 great ways to destroy the spirit of even the most dedicated of employees ... MORE

Every month, Training Trends delivers 3 timely articles filled with great commentary, discussion and advice on the hottest topics in employee training and development.

Sign up here to receive the next installment of Training Trends.

Incorporate learning at work with five questions

After graduation we continue to naturally learn from the world around us, but we still picture the act of ‘learning’ as something only done in a classroom full of books and tests. Once we enter the workforce, learning usually takes a backseat to the ‘to-do’ list on our desks.

Learning is “the foundation upon which all improvement, development and growth is built,” according to Kevin Eikenberry at Remarkable Learning.

As we develop in our careers, less and less is done to learn “intentionally and consciously.” Eikenberry challenges us to ask ourselves five questions to make the idea of learning more concrete in our personal lives and at work.

• What worked?
• What could be improved?
• What was my role in the result?
• What can I do now?
• How can I use this lesson later?
  

After determining what you do well, take a look at the places where you could make improvements and the personal actions you can take to create better results. Decide what you will keep doing along with what you will change, and use what you learned in future situations.

“Hopefully you see how these questions can apply to you. You can ask them at any time after any event or on the way home looking back on your entire day. You also can use them as a team or group to think about how things are going and how you can continually improve your work.”

You create a learning opportunity every time you ask yourself the five questions. Jump on over to Remarkable Learning for a more detailed rundown of the five questions and more opportunity to learn.

Olympic-level employee training advice

The Olympics are off and running in Beijing, where teams from across the world have met to test their competitive skills in hopes of achieving the gold. Channel the spirit of the games and jump start you employee training program with free advice from Olympic personal trainers.

Part of the official Olympic site, the Olympic Personal Trainer section is full of 22 short videos of world-renown trainers answering questions ranging from how to motivate yourself to the importance of teamwork.

“Because a good trainer can bring out the best of us,” take a lesson from the best and listen to Olympic personal trainers cover topics such as:

• How do you improve your concentration?
• What are the best ways to train yourself mentally?
• How do you handle stress?
• How to you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
• How do you learn from failure?
• What essential qualities do you need to succeed?
• How do you set goals?
• Why is teamwork important?

It’s the perfect time to start a personal training program of your own and get your team’s performance and motivation up to Olympic standards.

To train or not to train

With more people, especially Gen Y, job hopping their way around the corporate world we may see employee training go "the way of the 8 track," according to a recent prediction by YourHRGuy.

HRGuy says - With more employees job hopping, spending less time at each job, it's smarter for companies to put money into recruiting qualified candidates rather than develop current employees.

A Training Time post from earlier this year focused a panel discussion at Fortune's Global Forum where the moderator asked: "Why invest in training people when you know that a lot of them are going to leave you pretty soon?"

Panelist Anand Pillai, Vice President & Global Head of Talent Transformation & Intrapreneurship, looks at the dilemma much differently than HRGuy.

Pillai says - What happens if you don't train them and they stay? The most effective way to retain empoyees is to provide training and keep them engaged with the company.

It's an interesting argument that only starting to develop as more job-hopping Gen Yers move around the workforce.

We want to hear your opinion - Should companies continue to sponsor employee training even though there's a chance many will leave?

When employees are talking about you online

Chances are most of your employees are members of popular social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or LinkedIn. They’re publishing and commenting on blogs, and writing reviews on their favorite products.

Employees’ online behavior can pose a serious threat to business. Take the example of the Home Interiors & Gifts employee who spilled the beans about a major pending transaction in a casual email to a friend. The employee meant no harm by sharing the news, but executives were furious.

Earlier this year, CNN caused an uproar after firing Chez Pazienza for his blogging without having a policy regarding “personal writings online” in place. Since then, CNN has written a policy which Pazienza was happy to blog about.

While you may have some sense of control over what employees say about the company over instant messages in the office, how do you guide what employees are saying about the company on their own time, outside of work?

When speaking online as an employee it’s important to have a clear set of rules that everyone in the organization can follow, according to Denise Shiffman at Engage Daily. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but companies should train employees on how to act responsibly when talking about their employer online.

Take a look at how the BBC, Sun Microsystems and IBM have put their social media guidelines into writing. After drafting your own policy, Schiffman advises running them through the legal department before passing the document out to employees.

Here are some online behavior guidelines Shiffman would include (read the full list):

• Use your real name and identify the company you work for.
• Everyone speaks for themselves, not “on behalf” of the company. Only designated spokespeople speak for the company.
• Protect confidential and financial company information.
• Follow the same rules you would if speaking inside of the office.
  

Writing policies on employees’ actions outside of the office can be a bumpy road to travel. As always, seek out legal advice before publishing any guidelines on employee online behavior outside of work.

Do you think it’s right to have guidelines on employee online behavior while on their own time? What problems have you come across in writing your own company policy?

Beating the ‘brain drain’ with phased retirement

With 25 percent of Americans nearing retirement age, U.S. employers are bracing themselves for an “unprecedented” talent shortage. To tackle the issue, many companies have implemented phased retirement programs to transfer knowledge and help older employees transition into an “easier and more affordable retirement.”

Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company, surveyed more than 140 mid-size and large employers revealing some key findings:

• 55% of those surveyed have evaluated the impact potential retirements could have on their organization.
• 61% have developed or plan to develop special programs to retain targeted, near-retirement employees.
• Only 21% believe phased retirement is critical to their company’s human resource strategy today, but 61% believe phased retirement will be critical to their strategy five years from now.
• 47% of companies said they have some type of phased retirement arrangement available to employees, but only 5% have formalized their programs.

As the Baby Boomer generation retires, companies will lose some of their most loyal and long-standing employees. Along with their 401(k)s, retirees may be leaving with important corporate knowledge and insider information if companies don’t do something about it now.

"With the rising tide of boomer retirees, employers will be losing key talent at a time when attracting and retaining skilled workers will be more important than ever," explained Allen Steinberg, a principal at Hewitt Associates.

Surveyed employers said the top benefits of implementing a phased retirement include:

• Retaining the experience, knowledge and skills of older workers. (72%)
• Easing the difficulty of replacing key skills. (52%)
• Helping with transfer of key skills from experienced to inexperienced workers. (50%)

In order to retain workers close to retirement, more than half of companies (65%) offer part-time employment on a year-round basis. Other strategies include continuing health care benefits, flexible hours and a guaranteed salary.

Read one of our past posts on how to beat the retirement “brain drain” with advice on how to transfer important company knowledge and skills from retiring employees.

New study reveals instant messaging reduces interruption, plus workplace IM etiquette

If you think instant messaging at work is distracting and lowers employee productivity, think again. A new study from researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine actually found the exactly the opposite to be true.

Before the study, many researchers and business professionals believed that if given instant messaging, workers would use it on top of emails and phone conversations, increasing interruption and lowering productivity.

Instead, researchers found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than coworkers who did not. Instant messaging was often used as a substitute for the phone and email, decreasing workplace disruption.

“We found that the effect of instant messaging is actually positive. People who used instant messaging reported that they felt they were being interrupted less frequently,” said Ohio State researcher Kelly Garrett in ScienceDaily.

Researchers found that most workers would use instant messaging to see if a coworker was busy, before interrupting them at their desk, and to get quick answers to simple questions. Instant messaging gave employees more control over workplace communication by showing others when they are available or not. It also allows workers to postpone conversations and ignore or dismiss unimportant messages, with little distraction.

If you’re thinking about adopting instant messaging in the office or already use it, be sure to train employees on correct workplace instant messaging etiquette. Here are a few key points to remember:

• Knock first. Ask if the person is available before interrupting them with a detailed question. Simply ask “Are you available to chat?”



• Keep it short. Instant messaging is meant to be brief. If your message requires more than about two lines of text, maybe you should consider moving your conversation to the phone or email.



• Take your time. Your coworker may not be as fast of a typist as you, so give them enough time to respond before sending another question.



• Use away messages. Going to be in a meeting for the next hour? Put up an away message that tells everyone you’re away from your desk, so everyone knows when you’re available again.



• Mind your manners. Don’t say anything in an instant message that you wouldn’t put in an office email or say over the phone. Remind employees that IMs sent from office computers should follow workplace communication policies regarding offensive language and improper conversation topics.

How employees choose to use instant messaging will determine the effect it will have on productivity. If everyone agrees to follow a few rules, instant messaging can enhance employee communication, reduce distractions and improve productivity.

Learning and development: More carnival fun

The very first learning and development carnival is up at Learn2Develop. Chris Morgan focused the carnival on three main areas: developing and managing talent, learning 2.0, and the credit crunch.

So, take a little trip over to the carnival for a little bit of fun and some great ideas from across the blogosphere. See you there...

Dancing improves employee productivity

Do you wish your company buzzed like a hive of bees? Everyone productive, industrious, organized?

The beehive is “the very model of business,” according to Benjamin Ellis at Redcatco. Before achieving any business success, you must first give your bees some free time and room to dance. Dancing is the key to improve employee productivity.

Ellis explains how even though it may look like bees never take a break from work, they actually spend a significant portion of their time wandering around the hive and dancing with their coworkers (fellow bees).

For parts of the day, bees travel aimlessly in hopes to stumble upon nectar, the sugar source for honey. When a bee comes across a fruitful patch, it returns to the hive and does a “waggle dance” for its coworkers demonstrating where the nectar is. The coworkers quickly get moving to collect the rest of the discovery.

“It is a process of innovation and discovery. A single bee, with the time to wonder, makes a discovery. It then shares the discovery with the hive. The process maximizes the return on the new discovery, while minimizing unfruitful searching by other bees.”

So, Ellis asks: “Do your employees dance?”

Like we said last week, give yourself and your employees time to be creative, time to wander in search of nectar. Energize your hive with just a little bit of free time and you may find some sweet success.

Schedule some time to think

Do you ever take a minute to just sit down and think? No Internet, no phone, no iPod, just you and your brain.

It’s a question Chris Morgan from Learn2Develop asked earlier this week, that got me thinking. When does anyone have time to just sit down and think?

In today’s world, our schedules are crammed back-to-back with meetings and deadlines, with hardly enough time to grab “lunch” from the vending machine.

It turns out some very smart (and busy) people have figured out how to fit thinking in daily. Barack Obama, Leonardo DaVinci and MindMap inventor Tony Buzan all take thinking pretty seriously.

"The most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you're doing is thinking," said Obama in a recent BBC article.

Innovative companies including Google and 3M allow employees to set aside 20% of their time to think and work on projects not immediately connected to core business goals.

If you think giving away free time will have employees playing video games and shopping online for shoes, think again - 50% of Google’s latest features were thought up during employee “free-time.”

“Aspiring innovators don't need pep talks. They need TIME. Time to think. And time to dream. Time to collaborate. And time to plan. Time to pilot. And time to test. Time to tinker. And time to tinker again,” says Mitch Ditkoff at The Heart of Innovation.

So, block out a little time on your schedule today for a meeting with yourself, a meeting just to think. Ready? All together now ... ohmmm ...