In the course of doing their jobs, your employees may or may not be engaging in their jobs. If you ask the experts at Gallup, a poll taken in 2009 showed that 67% of workers are not engaged in their jobs. That the estimated cost of worker disengagement was about $350 billion for US businesses! $350 billion is a lot of money to be lost. That includes lost wages, lost revenue, lost production, lost innovation, and much more that contributes to inefficiency. Capturing just a sliver of that amount in active worker engagement could help your small business profit more every year. But what is employee engagement? And what is it that makes employees want to distract and disconnect themselves from work?
What Is Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement is simply the act of an employee to wanting to put full effort into doing his or her job, avoiding distractions, and helping the business reach its goals. And even more simply put, it is connecting with the company that helps engage a worker. Read more…
I’m in Austin TX today looking forward to two full days judging the University of Texas’ Venture Labs business plan competition, which is something like a grand finale, bringing together 36 teams that have won other competitions.
This is the original Moot Corp, started in 1984, the first MBA-level business plan contest that I ever heard of. I’m happy to be here for the fourth year in a row. I’ve read some really good business plans, and I’m looking forward to seeing the teams pitch and take questions. And tomorrow we have a special Palo Alto Software challenge, and then the finals. I expect to be posting about this event next week.
In the meantime, some good posts from earlier this week:
- Annie Mueller of Wise Bread posted 10 Signs You Shouldn’t Be a Small Business Owner on Amex OPEN forum.
- The Osama Raid Live Tweets: This one is off my normal track, but I found it fascinating, something like watching history as it actually happens, in a Twitter sort of way. Damon Clinksc
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Investing new economy
You can’t blame investors for feeling frightened these days.
Many experts see inflation and interest rates heading higher. Already, surging oil prices have helped push the annual inflation rate above 2 percent. And the global picture is full of turmoil — from war in Libya to natural disasters in Japan.
In this environment, devoting some of your assets to safe fixed-income investments makes more sense than ever. There’s a wide range of possibilities, depending on what you consider safe.
“Based on the uncertainty with respect to interest rates and potential inflation, we’re continuing to use fixed income,” says Michael Dixon, director of wealth management at Carl Domino financial advisers in Palm Beach, Fla. “But we’re very cautious with the ratings of securities and durations.”
The lowest-risk options, such as certificates of deposit, or CDs, and Treasury securities, offer paltry yields, while vehicles at the top of the income scale, such as high-dividend blue-chip stocks, are much riskier.
“You give up yield for safety.
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A pre-approved auto loan is different from a conventional auto loan because you are approved for a loan on a car before you ever walk onto the lot. Auto loan pre-approval allows you to enter the dealership knowing what you can afford and what interest rate you will pay. You won’t waste time considering cars that you won’t qualify to buy.
Conventional Auto Loans
When you rely on conventional auto financing, you usually choose the vehicle you’re interested in, decide how much you are willing to put toward a down payment and then borrow the remainder of the purchase price.
However, before a lender will agree to loan you that money, you must be approved. Sometimes, you are denied a loan with favorable interest rates because your credit is poor or you don’t have the cash for a large enough down payment. You mus
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Today is the first day of distribution for Samatha Walraven’s book Torn: True Stories of Kids, Career, and the Conflict of Modern Motherhood. I got an advance copy and it’s a good read: for working moms, of course, but also for working dads, and everybody else who cares about understanding some of the people they work with. 
The book is a series of chapters from contributors, which makes it a great collection of experiences and point of view. It’s about how it feels, working through the problems, dealing with guilt, the importance of choice — which includes choosing to be stay-at-home mom too, by the way; there’s a whole section of pieces from that point of view too — and similar topics.
For example, this, from a Chapter called MommyCEO, written by Sabrina Parsons, my daughter, CEO of Palo Alto Software. I’ve taken
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