Management: Team Management and Coaching

The BigNosedUglyGuy (his mother really didn't like him ;) ) posts some basic tips in a half-dozen areas of employee management.

• Objective Setting - How to set and manage SMART objectives.
• Performance Appraisals - Basic outline for performance appraisals.
• Dealing with Performance Problems - how to constructively address performance issues.
• Empowerment - Empowerment through commitment.
• How To Delegate Effectively - Six key point to remember when delegating actions.
• Self Appraisal for coaches - How do you rate as a coach? Use this to get an idea.

Humour: H.R. sensible???

Occupational Health & Safety: 1 in 5 working women have depression or anxiety

One in five working Canadian women experience depression or anxiety, which has caused some women to avoid or even quit work, according to a national study released Monday.

The study was conducted by Leger Marketing on behalf of Wyeth Canada, a pharmaceutical company. It found that 71 per cent of respondents said depression and anxiety was a barrier to success, compared to 23 per cent who found pregnancy to be a barrier. [CTV.ca]

Motivation: Minimize Workplace Negativity

Susan Heathfield has posted an article with tips for minimizing workplace negativity. She suggests the following seven tips:

1. Provide opportunities for people to make decisions about and control and/or influence their own job.
2. Make opportunities available for people to express their opinion about workplace policies and procedures.
3. Treat people as adults with fairness and consistency.
4. Help people feel like members of the in-crowd.
5. Afford people the opportunity to grow and develop.
6. Provide appropriate leadership and a strategic framework, including mission, vision, values, and goals.
7. Provide appropriate rewards and recognition so people feel their contribution is valued.

Attendance Management: Return-to-work co-ordinator works for Weyerhaeuser Canada

Buddy system gets employees back to work

Typically, when an employee suffers a serious injury or illness, the employer sends flowers and makes sure the disability benefits are in order. But the longer the disabled employee remains "out of sight, out of mind," the less likely it is that he or she will ever return to productive employment -- at enormous cost to employers and employees alike, according to new research to be presented at a conference in Vancouver today.

Motivation: MAINTAINING POSITIVE EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

A MINI-GUIDE FOR SUPERVISORS The goal is to create and maintain an environment in which employees feel respected, fairly treated and that their needs are being met. What are employee needs?

• Believing their work is appreciated and valued
• Being "in on things"
• Appropriate help with personal problems
• Security
• Money
• Fair working conditions
• Satisfying work
• Tactful discipline

What can supervisors do to achieve this goal?

• Acknowledge a job well done
• Prevention - understand and respond to employee concerns
• Keep lines of communication open-communicate fairly with everyone.
• Recognize personal problems and assist where possible or direct employee to an appropriate source of help
• Carefully consider employee complaints about working conditions
• Don't idly threaten employee job security
• Live up to your commitments
• Listen, investigate and consider before you discipline
• Be consistent

Occupational Health & Safety: Non-smoking workplaces lead to more smoking

Employees in workplaces with no smoking restrictions smoke almost five more cigarettes daily than those whose workplaces completely ban smoking, says a study by the University of Toronto's Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (OTRU).

"Usually, the reason given for banning smoking in the workplace is to benefit non-smokers and this is a valid and important reason," says OTRU's Dr. Thomas Stephens. "What this study shows is that the bans also have health benefits for smokers themselves.