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It's All About The People
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A dangerous workplace climate can be just as damaging as an unsafe workplace, according to Cameron Herold,
of Backpocket COO. “It kills peoples’ spirit,” he said.
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Fully-Engaged
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Engaged employees are happy, more productive, and help businesses be successful.
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Is the Cheque Dead?
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What can kill paperwork, give better controls, speed up purchasing and, best of all, save money? Corporate
credit cards. The little piece of plastic has exploded across the business world in the last decade. So much
so, that some wonder how long it will be until the humble printed cheque is extinct.
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Wisdom for Your Workplace
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I’m an early adopter when it comes to technology, always wanting to own the latest and greatest. I
have to have the new thing the day it’s available for sale, even knowing that if I wait a few months
the price will drop and they’ll have all the bugs fixed. So yes, I have the iPad–Apple’s innovation in the
realm of tablet computers. In fact, I have two. I didn’t want my first oneto be lonely.
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Engagement is Here to Stay
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I’m starting to see statements popping up in various trade publications and blogs on the subject of
workplace engagement. Assorted pundits are tentatively musing on the staying power of engagement as if it
were a fad.
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Steps to an Effective Employee Survey
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Organizations do more harm than good by conducting employee surveys without a proper communication and
action plan—the lack of follow-up erodes management credibility in the eyes of employees. Ponder these
comments:
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Mentoring Can Make a Difference
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Local professional networks are invaluable to job seekers, but most skilled immigrants do not have access
to such networks, or understand how to navigate their job search in Canada. Skilled immigrants have high
levels of education, but may not know the Canadian context of their profession and workplace culture, or
understand how to translate and sell their skill sets.
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Employee Training
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Businesses need to invest in training in order for employees to develop skills
that will allow them to maintain and attract new clients. However training can be expensive, so how can a
company make sure it is getting the most out of its training dollars?
David Freeman is in charge of Training Development for the security company Commissionaires B.C., a company
that has 1,500 employees in the province. He offers advice for employees on how to maximize their return on
investment (ROI) in the area of employee training. “Adults retain and use new knowledge best when they can
integrate it into what they already know,” says Freeman. “So it’s vital that training be connected to what
employees are already doing, and that what they learn can be easily incorporated into ongoing duties.”
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Leadership for Team Engagement
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We’ve hit a crisis point in terms of the number of people who feel passion, engagement and joy at work,
according to author and corporate coach Kathleen Redmond in Newmarket, Ont. and Lois Tori, a coach, trainer
and consultant with more than 15 years of experience working with senior leaders. They both gave concrete
recommendations on how to change this situation of employee engagement at the Live Healthy, Work Smart Your
Workplace Conference ’09 in Ottawa, Ont.
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Romance at Work
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Workers complain about policies that prohibit dating and loudly proclaim that it is an infringement of
their human rights. Others ask, “What ever happened to democratic principles?” It is only after the
relationship is over that employers and employees willingly agree with the basic principal of having a policy
against dating in the workplace.
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Engaging Talent for Long-term Results
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In a recent report from Keeping The People, an American consulting firm aimed at helping
organizations engage and retain talent, respondents were asked if they thought it would be more difficult to
retain employees once the economy recovers. A remarkable 88% answered “yes”. The same report found that
employee engagement has declined 3 to 5% since the beginning of the downturn.
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Brainy Books
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It seems like the latest trend in books these days are catchy titles and then a longer, more serious,
subtitle. So what’s the truth? The quick burst of the title, or the slow burn of the subtitle? We leave that
to your mindful opinion. These thoughtful books all deal with heady topics.
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Most Creative in the Workplace
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Being a nurse
can be fun! A group of very talented singers who are all Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetists in
Minnesota can really sing! The Laryngospasms create and perform medical parodies for audiences throughout the
U.S. Since the group’s inception at a 1991 Christmas party, they have recorded three albums, three videos,
and has been featured in numerous publication, radio and TV shows.
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At Work Silence is Still Golden
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Do you know people at work who sit snuggly at their computer and listens to the radio all day long? They
might perk up from time to time to giddily remark, “I love this song.” They are the ones who gasp
dramatically and say they would die if they couldn’t listen to music at work as if it’s supplying the oxygen
to their cubicle. I am not one of those people.
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YW Profile: Steam Whistle Brewing
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Steam Whistle Brewing is nearing a decade in business but still enjoys the same family atmosphere from its
early days thanks to very deliberate decisions by brewery co-founders, Cam Heaps and Greg Taylor.
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Apology Accepted
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Despite what you might think, it might
actually be better to apologize for that mistake you made in the business report, or the wrong way in which
you handled a project. Contrary to the belief that leaders who apologize are seen as weak or incompetent, a
study out of the Queen’s University School of Business in Kingston, Ont. found quite the opposite. Victims of
mistakes made by leaders who apologized consistently perceived them to be more “transformational”, i.e.,
ethical, influential, trustworthy, caring and considerate.
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Harmony at Work
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Some of the latest books of 2009 cover a wide range of topics. But all point to the importance of
listening to our human side to be successful in the workplace. These books cover topics from great leaders to
detrimental, bad behaviour at work, creating a harmony between earth and economy and listening to your
intuition in an uncertain world.
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Email – “the killer app”
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E-mail has become the substitute for creating and
maintaining interpersonal relationships. We’ve become lazy. How many of you have sent an e-mail to someone
sitting next door to you or a few steps away within the past hour?
A recent study by Pew Internet & American Life Project, Washington, D.C. claims that more than 60% of
employers rate high-school graduates’ skills in basic English as fair or poor. This poor use of the English
language is smattered throughout e-mails–a prevalent way for workers to communicate. The study cites that,
“E-mail continues to be the ‘killer app’ of the internet. More people use e-mail than do any other activity
online.”
When choosing e-mail as your communication medium, the success of your message will depend on the following
components.
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Toll Free: 1-877-668-1945