Why Hire an Older Worker?

Photo Credit: jtm71.wordpress.com

Age discrimination is just as common as race or sex discrimination these days. It is increasingly hard for the older generation to find work. In fact, once a person turns the big 4-0, they are then considered a part of America’s aging workforce. Most people, however, consider this the time when they are in the pinnacle of their working careers.

So, if you are one of those companies that normally hire the tech-savvy hotshot — you may want to rethink your hiring strategy a little. Here are some reasons why you should hire older employees rather than younger ones:

1. You know what you’re getting. With older employees, you know what you are going to get just by checking their work history and background check. You will be able to determine if they are the fit you are looking for, while with an employee right out of college you won’t have that work history to look back on.
2. Older employees will have lower benefits. Yes, lower benefits. When you reach a certain age, you won’t have dependents like children to worry about. Medicare, which starts at 65, will not go on a company’s tab either. In fact, many older employees would rather work part-time rather than full-time which means that benefits are decreased even more so.
3. Flexibility. Older employees have no children and they usually have no extracurricular activities to go to which mean odd shifts and those hard to fill time slots on the time clock get filled easily.
4. Wise beyond their years. This saying tells it all. When you sat down in front of your grandparents and they told you how to do something that seemed farfetched, you listened anyways because you knew that they were wise. This same thinking goes into the business world. Older workers have been around for a while and it can be beneficial to hear what they have to say, especially if they have been in one sector for decades.
5. They are eager. Just because they are older doesn’t mean they don’t want to learn. In fact, they love to learn and older workers are just as capable of learning new techniques just as much so as younger workers.

What Makes a Quality Leader

Every business needs a good leader to thrive. Delegating tasks, keeping employees motivated and setting a great example for the team are among the key qualities for leadership. Check out the following five things that help define a confident and successful leader: 

1.   Articulate Interests. Ensuring harmony and balance in the team is the basic task of a leader. The biggest challenge is to reconcile the different interests that coexist in the same organization, articulating them in a productive way.

2. Maintain Open Channels With Your Team. For employees to assimilate the values and principles that guide the business, it is essential to communicate with clarity and objectivity. Likewise, it is important to be open to hearing what everyone has to say on various topics. This establishes a trust relationship with the group, creating harmony and an encouraging environment.

3.  Establish And Verify Work Patterns. The standardization of work processes is crucial for a company's performance. It is the job of a good leader to establish these processes. It is important also to have effective methods to verify compliance with these processes, whether it be time clocks to ensure hours worked or weekly reports.

4.     Promote A Culture Of Innovation. Creating an environment conducive to innovation is also the task of a leader who wants to see your business take off. It is important to encourage and foster the diversity of ideas in order to make the work environment more creative and innovative.

5.     Train More Leaders. A good leader is one who knows how to identify and encourage other leaders within the business. That means looking for people with innovative and motivating character, exercising a positive influence on the group.

Become More Productive This Year

We all know that our everyday lives are not easy. We only have 24 hours to take care of our business, our personal lives and still try to find some room to relax. One way to helping you etch out time for the latest episode or to take a job is to be more productive.

Here are some tips to help you become more productive both at home and in the office in 2013:

1.     Arrange: Get your desktop organized. Everything must be easily accessible so you do not waste time looking for something.

2.     Say "no": Only say "yes" when necessary or possible. Avoid doing things that take up time or cause stress.

3.     Schedule right: When scheduling a new task, take into account factors such as queues that take time, displacement and transit time.

4.     Simplify: At first, it seems that everything we do is essential, but it is not. Choose the tasks necessary to your goals.

5.     Consider life as a whole: Divide your day into parts because doing everything at once will only stress you out and kill productivity.

6.     Focus and concentration: Keep a to-do-list. Leaving things vague will bring distraction and forgetfulness.

7.     Organizing methods: There are many theories about personal organization. You need not follow any, but knowing them and select the ones you are interested. Getting better time clocks for your office would be one great way to organize the office space.

8.     Find your own way: Create your own methods of doing things that get the work done and keep you focused. Methods are different for everyone.

9.     What’s your interest in productivity: What do you want to do with your time? Remind yourself of what productivity brings.

10.  Do not miss the focus: For those who want to gain productivity and efficiency, the key is to analyze your situation, find out enough about it, find a technique that works well, and use that technique to help re-focus other time on your own personal goals.

How to Respond When Things Go Wrong – Part Two

Every company should be prepared to face problems. The important thing is to not expect them to happen and then react. The ideal thing is to think ahead and make plans that contribute to fixing the damage before it happens so that the damage to your business is minimal, even after a serious incident.

Here is the second part of a two-part series with tips on how you can respond when things go wrong in your company.

·  Be Ready To Respond: You should already have your emergency action plan (EAP) written by now, so at this point you want to make sure that your staff know about it. It is important that each one knows what is expected of one another when an emergency pops up. It doesn’t matter how big or how small the emergency is. In fact, it is vital that you do “test runs” every month to keep them fresh on emergency procedures. You should keep in mind that no plan is ever perfect until you put it to the test.

o   Here are some areas of training you should focus on:

§  Basic first aid

§  Use of fire extinguisher

§  Emergency equipment shutdown

§  Building evacuation procedures

§  Emergency notification procedures

§  CPR

·  Recovery Procedures: Once the first the steps are in the books, it is vital that you get back in the swing of things and get your business up and running again. Make sure you have a plan for how you will recover after a disaster happens. Think about these questions:

o   Will you need another location?

o   Are you able to obtain replacement equipment?

o   Do you have someone to clean up the business?

o   Is it possible to recover any lost data on time clocks or other instruments?

o   Can your staff get to work?

o   Will your workers be able to reach you?

o   Can your suppliers still get you the goods on a regular basis?

How to Respond When Things Go Wrong – Part One

No business is ever safe, especially a small business. In today’s economy, a business can go under in a heartbeat and not always because of financial woes. For instance, employees could be injured, important information may be lost due to computer errors, or even a natural disaster can destroy your factory, office, or working space.

While it’s impossible to be prepared for every disaster, thinking ahead and having contingency plans is always a good idea. Being ready for the unexpected can help you keep your cool as well as your business. Here are some tips for planning for the worst:

1.     Figure out everything that could go wrong. This is important because it tests the vulnerability of your business. This goes well past simple things like time clock software being broken and encompasses things like mass computer failure or integral machine break-down. When looking at the risk assessment you should keep these things in mind:

·       List all the risks or threats your business can face.

·       Determine how vulnerable your business is to these threats.

·       Start prioritizing the threats.

2.     Develop a strong business plan. This will be known as an “EAP”, or Emergency Action Plan, which will help deal with everything you listed in step one. Sometimes these plans will be set by law and, at other times, you will be responsible for setting up the procedures. Here are some tips to help you through this step:

·       Write a clear written policy of your company’s chain of command.

·       List the people who are responsible for assessing risks to property and people.

·       Include instructions on how to shut down any equipment you may have.

·       Record facility evacuation procedures.

·       Include forms needed or procedures required to report any emergency.

With some forethought, you and your business can be ready for any number of incidents or accidents. While it is impossible to prepare for anything, having emergency protocol set can help deal with the unplanned incidents as well.

How to Delegate Productively

As a manager or leader in your business, you will find yourself delegating out work at some point or another. While proper delegation makes for a well-run and productive team, improper delegation of tasks can side rail and entire project. There are a few tricks that all managers can use to help make sure that tasks are proportioned out fairly, that hours on the time clock are met, and that work is set out in a way that encourages work instead of inhibits.

To reduce the risk of problems when delegating work, start by issuing smaller, easier tasks first. This limits the damage that can be caused in case someone fails. This also will help build the self-esteem of the person who took that responsibility if they succeed.

You should never limit yourself to just explaining what they should do either. When people realize how their work fits in the process, they can react better when things go wrong or when you are not present. Having a chance to innovate can sometimes bring out the best in employees.

Take a look at these other tips which will help you be a better delegator:

1.     Choose things that you can delegate “up”. This means picking things that are simple enough that you can pass off to an assistant like checking emails, picking up dry cleaning and so on.

2.     Choose things that you can delegate “down”. These are the items that you want professionals handling. For instance, you will want to hire an accountant or bookkeeper to do the numbers.

3.     Provide crystal clear instructions. Being able to delegate successfully starts with getting through to your people clearly. If someone doesn’t understand something, make sure they do by talking things over.

4.     Empower the staff. Give your employees enough responsibility to make them feel special. It goes a long way.

5.     Letting go. Some people can do tasks better than you can. Let go and let those with the strengths in that task do said step.

6.     Invest in long-term success. Choose employees that will stick around for a long time but make sure they are worth having around as well.

Do not forget the reality of the learning curve: the first task delegated does not always run optimally. Do not be tempted to take the matter into your own hands. Give your employees a chance and teach them where they went wrong. You will often be surprised at the improvement rate that shows.

Time Management at the Office

Every business is looking for a way to become more efficient while using less manpower. Each CEO wants to spend less money on manpower while increasing productivity. If you are in one of these situations, where the boss is making you take on more work in less time then you may want to continue reading.

Here are 9 tips on how you can increase your time management at work:

1.     Finding out which system works best. You should start out your week by writing down everything you should do that week followed by a daily calendar.

2.     Take back your calendar and what’s left of your life. Make sure you live with a purpose and ensure that technology is your slave, not letting technology enslave you. Be sure to remember that “neat” is not the same thing as “organized”.

3.     Project planning. Having the right software for planning projects is ideal. Microsoft Outlook is perfect for planning. You should also learn how to micromanage.

4.     Learn how to manage interruptions. This step will save you plenty of time. You will be interrupted every single day but how you react to it will define you as a time-saver.

5.     Get your calendar back. Taming a calendar is hard work, but it can be done. The first step is keeping the most important objectives first.

6.     Delegate a “must do” list. Every person will have things that they must do so keep these things separate so you do not forget them. Sometimes you will not be able to get around to the task and therefore you must choose someone else to do the work.

7.     Perform productive meetings. Meetings are important parts to a business. It all starts with people getting to work on time. Ensure that your time clock is up-to-date.

8.     Manage your projects, not the time. Know what is due and what can be put off in favor of something that is more critical.

9.     Create meeting templates. That way you know what to say and in what order, reducing time spent in the meeting.