Back in December, I wrote an article about service anniversaries and why they're important. What's noteworthy about service anniversaries isn't just their "feel good" importance. Yes, having someone recognize how long I've been with the organization is nice and it makes me feel special. But recognizing service anniversaries has a direct impact on the company.

Employee engagement impacts the bottom-line.
One of the reasons that companies are focused on employee engagement is because engagement is directly linked to bottom-line profits. According to Gallup, high levels of employee engagement can boost productivity and profitability 20% or more. On the flip side, disengagement is costing the U.S. economy over $350 billion a year.

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about how individuals can change company culture. I later received a note on Twitter with a great question:

A positive candidate experience provides organizations with a competitive advantage in two ways. First, from a revenue perspective. The last thing any company wants is to say "no" to a candidate and lose a customer. The business world is way too competitive to lose a customer over a negative hiring experience.

I have a tendency to stockpile magazines so I can read during flights. This time of year is conference season, which tends to be my busiest with a lot of travel from September through the end of the year.

I don’t know any time when you could become obsolete or irrelevant quicker than today. The world is moving faster than ever. New technologies are changing the way we work and live our lives. We have to stay current with trends and be willing to change regularly.

It seems like a simple enough question. “What companies should we benchmark ourselves against?”

This question was asked in a Facebook group I belong to. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s an easy answer. Benchmarking is the process of comparing something (i.e. process, performance) against what someone else does. The process of choosing that “someone else” to compare yourself to isn’t always obvious.

At one of my training sessions recently, we had a discussion about being a first-time supervisor. While the group had a tremendous amount of management experience, everyone recognized how hard it can be in that very first supervisory role. Driving home after the session, it got me thinking – what advice would I have wanted when I first became a supervisor?

I’ve always worked in organizations where this time of year was budget time. We spent hours in meetings talking about the goals we wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year (and how to fund those projects.)