Are you at risk for losing your employees to the competition? It’s an anxious question many companies are asking themselves, but with a glimpse at current practices, company culture, communication of core values, and more, you can retain your key players. Michael R. Greco and Christopher P. Stief take a closer look at 7 Ways to Tell if Your Employees are Poachable. Here’s a glimpse: Is Upheaval Shaking Up Your Industry? If your industry is facing increased regulation, an onslaught of mergers or uncertainty about tomorrow’s profitability, there’s a good chance your…

Employee motivation tends to waver over the course of a year.

There will be great days just as certainly as there will be bad days. But it’s important to remember that the average is what defines your best employees. When your capable employees are unmotivated, and obstacles are separating you from their best work, then you need to take corrective measures. Here are some helpful ideas to add to your best practices process: Give your team positive affirmations, when warranted. By doing this, you can create a reward system for your employees…

There is no dearth in the importance of employee feedback. Not only can it improve the office environment and change its culture, it’s also a great pathway to senior management development. Jason Blais has a list of tips on how to get real employee feedback—not the watered-down kind. Here’s a taste: Share All Results And Do It As Quickly As Possible You need to develop and support trust within your staff. A great way to do that is to become as transparent as possible. Share the results of your surveys—even if it’s…

Working remotely—whether it be working from home or simply not having a central physical office location—is rising in popularity, especially as the myths surrounding it are being dispelled. But even if an employee is remote, they still need to be trained. Donna Wells, the CEO of Mindflash.com, has a list of 5 Tips for Training Remote Employees. Let’s focus on the tools. Give Them the Tools They Need to Succeed Remote workers need fast and reliable access to information, and they can’t get it by walking down the hall. As well…

One of the biggest hindrances for remote workers is poor communication. If management doesn’t see an employee on an hourly basis, and isn’t stellar at e-communication, there’s a good chance that work-from-home employee will lose out on crucial information. Then not only will their work suffer, but the company will too. Mashable’s Amy-Mae Elliott has a list of 5 Tips for Keeping Remote Workers in the Loop, including: Be Hyper-Aware of Misinterpretation of the Written Word Simply stated: write clearly. Doesn’t matter if it’s email or IM—the written word can easily…

While every company understands the value of having an engaged customer base, employee engagement seems to be less of a priority.

A company culture will influence nearly every facet of a business, from the product to the production. In some cultures, employees are disillusioned and their work speaks to that. In others, however, the employees are genuinely engaged and their productivity is indicative of that. Here’s what you must do at your company to create a culture of engaged employees: Empathize with your employees – In all likelihood, you’ve been in your employees’ shoes before. And showing…

Where did the image of the prodigy creating a startup without any help come from?

Because that is a myth. At some point, regardless of the venture, that lone ranger received some help. And that help was likely pivotal in the development of the startup. No matter what the discussion is, a startup needs help in some form or another. You must engage a team. One person can’t be an expert in every field. Startup recruitment, for example, is something that a human resources professional could assist with. Instituting a marketing strategy is…

One thing that leadership often overlooks: peer leadership. Most often, management teams focus on what and how leaders lead their followers. This isn’t bad—but John Baldoni at SmartBlogs says something’s missing: “… much of what’s accomplished within an organization is because of people in the middle who get things done. Sometimes it requires leading up—what you do for your boss—but often, it requires what you do with and for your colleagues—leading peers.” Here are John’s 3 ways to help lead your peers without losing your peers. Find the Pain You may need…

In case you hadn’t heard, telecommuting is not detrimental to your company—in fact, working from home is becoming the norm, improving employee morale, company culture and the workplace environment across the board. Mashable takes a look at stats from a survey conducted by Skype and finds: 62% of the companies surveyed already allow employees to work remotely Of these companies, 34% of their workforce occasionally works remotely, and 34% of work-from-home (WFH)-enabled employees say they spend around 40% of their work hours at home Of course employees enjoy the WFH schedule, but…

The use of psychological tests in interviewing is a controversial—but effective—way to help recruiting and onboarding. Jonathan Farrington takes a look at psychometric testing as a way to get into the heads of salespeople. There are two types of psychometric tests. The first measures abilities, such as verbal or numerical reasoning. The second measures personality traits, such as how a person might behave in a given situation or what motivates them. In order to make these tests effective, they need to be tailored to the jobs they are used for. “In order…