What we call “labor” today bears little resemblance to its meaning of yesteryear. In fact, during the late 1800’s, one of our nation’s darkest labor periods at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the average American worked 12-hour days and often 7 days per week in order to eke out a basic living. Few other…
Back in 2013 I posted a YouTube video explaining why millennials (teen and young adult workers) hated being paid by the hour. With more than 350K views and a lot of controversial comments, it became apparent that I had struck the nerve that often separates employers and employees. But business owners wanted more – they needed…
Your hiring process has always been a two-way street. While you’re evaluating candidates, they’re evaluating your culture. From the moment you contact candidates through the assessments, interviews, background checks, and job offer, you have an opportunity to demonstrate how your company values and treats its employees. To establish and/or maintain a reputation as a great…
Susan, a friend and client of mine who owns a large plumbing/HVAC company called this morning feeling exasperated. “We’re not getting any responses to the job ads we’ve been running for techs,” she said. “Those guys know that they can make more money sitting on their couch playing X-Box than they can if they return…
The irony of the subtitle of my new book FULLY STAFFED: The Definitive Guide to Finding and Keeping Great Employees in the Worst Labor Market Ever (releasing Monday, April 20th) is obvious. After all, if the COVID-19 pandemic has force millions to file for unemployment, could this STILL be considered ‘the worst labor market ever?’ The answer is a…
No, the sky isn’t falling. It already fell. The stock market is in total upheaval. Schools, churches, businesses, and virtually everything deemed ‘non-essential’ is now closed – or very soon will be. The economic ripple of COVID-19 is reaching into the depths of every business and has left countless owners, leaders, and managers in a state of…
Using a low price loss leader item and training front line employees to upsell customers to a higher margin product is a practice that’s been around since Moses played goalie for the Egyptian soccer team. It’s also one of many such tactics that millennial and Gen Z-aged employees despise. Unless they’re being closely monitored by…
To keep pace with the rapidly decreasing supply of hourly workers amidst this devastating labor shortage, a growing number of fast food restaurant chains are now offering early wage paychecks and even same-day pay for part-time employees, according to this article in Bloomberg. In spite of higher salaries and the lowest unemployment in five decades,…
This is not an angry airline rant. I’m going somewhere important with this, so please hang with me. As a professional speaker based in Denver, business travel is a necessary evil that comes with the job. United Airlines has a large hub in Denver, and thus, I’ve been flying them almost exclusively for 30+ years…
For his 4th birthday, my grandson August (Auggie) was given an Echo Dot for Kids – Amazon’s Alexa for children. Even though I don’t own an Alexa or similar AI device, I thought I was somewhat familiar with what they do. Turns out, I wasn’t. I watched Auggie’s face light up when his dad finally…