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| Spotlight on Productivity |
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- Cheap ways to tune up stressed-out workers
Employers might have less money to spend on wages and benefits these days, but they still can try out low-cost ways to improve employee health and morale. Employees in the financial services division at Yamaha have been taking a weekly company-sponsored music lessons. Workforce Management Online
(12/2008)
     
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 | The Lean Workforce - Applying Lean Principles to Improve Workforce Management- This white paper demonstrates how applying Lean principles to your workforce can enable your company to align labor resources with demand. |
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| B-School Management Insight |
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- Practice makes profitable
By now, nearly everyone has heard of the 10,000 hour rule, as proposed by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, "Outliers." Being great at anything requires 10 years of practice, 1,000 hours a year. But what does that mean in business -- especially during a recession? "Don't let down time become wasted time," author and entrepreneur Bill Taylor says. Take advantage of slower work days to practice a single skill, whether it's making a pitch or writing a news release. "Find ways to work intensely and deliberately on your technical and business skills, confident that hard work will pay off in the long run." Harvard Business Review online/Practically Radical blog
(12/4)
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 | Blah, Blah, ROI, blah, blah. Anyone can talk about results. SmartBrief delivers them. Target prospects by industry; capture a senior-level audience, gain actionable results and reporting. Learn why advertising in SmartBrief makes dollars and sense. Contact a SmartBrief ad expert today. |
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- Theft at work increases
Research indicates a growing trend among workers to falsify sales transactions, seek kickbacks and steal equipment and products as the downturn worsens. "In leaner financial times, people have a tendency to give in to temptation to commit criminal behavior," says Brian J. Mich, head of anticorruption compliance and investigations at BDO Consulting in New York. The Wall Street Journal (free content)
(12/11)
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- Radio tagging the recruits
Indian Railways has started using radio frequency identification in the hiring process for physical tests of recruits. To eliminate the potential for unfairness in manual tests, the RFID technology will be used to gauge how well candidates perform in 1,500- and 400-meter runs. RFID Weblog
(12/10)
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 | FREE Trial: 60-Day Trial of Microsoft Office Project
Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 helps you stay informed, keep project teams aligned, as well as control project work, schedules, and finances. Click here for your free trial. |
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- Gift-giving strategies for the office
Don't turn down holiday gifts at work unless they are too extravagant, How to Deal columnist Lily Garcia says. To get around the issue, a manager could institute a no-gifts policy for the entire office or suggest an optional gift swap in which each person buys one modestly priced present. WashingtonPost.com
(12/11)
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 | Assuming you're a rational-minded, strong producer who is currently gainfully employed, would you feel comfortable forwarding a video resume in the hopes you might ascertain an interview? Probably not."
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The stigma associated with video resumes offsets any real value for the medium to help differentiate job candidates, blogger Josh Letourneau says. But if you feel you must make a video resume, he offers a list of "worst practices" to avoid. Among them: Don't include clips that show you lifting weights in skimpy shorts, engaging in X-game stunts or dancing. 
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has been criticized for saying fellow governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona was a good pick to head homeland security because she has no family. Applying the "Rendell Formula" would greatly reduce the pool of applicants for top government positions, Jessica Reaves says. "I know it's early," she quips, "but I'm thinking Napolitano vs. Condoleezza Rice. Just think of all the unpaid overtime we could get out of those single ladies!" 
