In an earlier column, you wrote about giving performance feedback. You used the words positive/negative, actionable/not actionable, and appropriate/inappropriate to describe different kinds of feedback, and you promised to revisit the issue in a later column. It wasn’t clear to...
For those of a certain vintage, being an employee in a mid-to-large workplace came with the obvious trappings - nosy colleagues, demanding work schedules, bad cafeteria food (or worse, bad snack machine edibles), and the dreaded year-end “performance review”. You...
From time to time my staff approach me with flyers that promote particular public training workshops and ask me if they can attend. These courses range from 'Advanced PowerPoint' to 'How to Deal with Difficult People'. It’s hard to know...
A little knowledge may be a dangerous thing Cost-per-hire is the most commonly encountered metric in the recruiting arena. It can apply both to internal promotions or transfers, as well as new hires from outside the organization. Unfortunately, however, there...
All of us, at some point in our working lives, will encounter and have to deal with difficult or irate clients. In the community and social services sector, frontline counsellors often encounter difficult clients on a regular basis. We see...
What kind of recruitment incentives or 'difficult to fill' incentives are appropriate for a nonprofit organization to offer to potential employees? We have two positions where thorough targeted recruitment has not resulted in actual hires. Money is the issue; we...
I supervise a number of employees, and always try to help them develop skills relevant to their current work and their career. One employee requested training on project management, and we agreed on a course. She asked to take it...
I'm curious about the proliferation of 'Best Employers' and 'Best Places To Work' lists. Are people tempted to apply for jobs with organizations that make it onto lists like these? Many of you probably noticed the coverage given to Canada’s...
So you've done your business process re-engineering; you've down-sized/right- sized/restructured (or whatever it's being called this month); you are now a flat organization; you are client-driven and all your employees are empowered team- workers. Oh, and by the way, all...
Our organization pursues a policy of paying employees better than other comparable organizations. Our executive director believes that by positioning ourselves in this way we'll attract and retain the best people. While our turnover numbers are very low, I don't...
