Reward Employees Without Giving a Raise

Originally published: 04.01.16 by Roxi Hewertson

The difference between people who love their work and people who don’t is the degree of appreciation they receive from their boss and their peers.

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Drug Testing: Legal Implications of Your Company Policy

Originally published: 02.01.16 by Jo McGuire

One very unfortunate accident by an employee under-the-influence could cost a large company significantly or a small company everything.

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New Wage and Overtime Laws for 2016

Originally published: 01.01.16 by Dr. Phillip Geist

The United States Department of Labor (US DOL) is amending the Fair Labor Standards Act in an effort to update it to take wage changes and inflation since the last update in 2004 into account.

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Have a Plan Before You Hire

Originally published: 10.01.15 by Patrick Valtin

As with everything else you do in business, going in with a solid plan is the best way to ensure success. Navigating around all the pitfalls associated with hiring staff can be complicated — but it doesn’t have to be.

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Act Quickly

Originally published: 08.01.15 by Karen Garavatti

Even the best-trained and most careful technician is not immune to accidents, and a company must be prepared to quickly and effectively respond to an accident that endangers the security and well-being of an employee and/or the general public.

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Avoid the Customer Service Apocalypse

Originally published: 04.01.15 by James Gerdsen

Rid your company of zombies and replace them with eager, emotionally invested employees.

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Skillful Resolution Makes for Happy Employees

Originally published: 03.01.15 by Jack Singer

Managing interpersonal conflict in organizations is among the most critical and important skills employees on all levels of an organization can possess.

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First Impressions

Originally published: 02.01.15 by John Rudy

In some situations, it doesn’t matter how knowledgeable the technician is — if a customer is greeted by an employee with a dirty or wrinkled uniform, or worse, no uniform at all, there’s a good chance they may never call you again.

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Treat Your Employees Like They Matter

Originally published: 12.01.14 by Christine Comaford

When employees feel they don’t matter, they simply cannot function at their highest level of performance. Here are six things you do (or don’t do) that make them feel unloved.

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Use Personality Tests to Build a Better Team

Originally published: 10.01.14 by Beverly Flaxington

If you want to create a team that isn’t all the same, it’s important to know who you have on your team and help the team members understand one another effectively.

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Find the Right People

Originally published: 10.01.14 by Ben Hubbert

It doesn’t matter what size your company is, where you’re located or what the predominant service is you’re providing, hiring will always be of highest importance in moving your business forward.

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A New Way To Do Performance Evaluations

Originally published: 09.01.14 by Lisë Stewart

Helping people work together to improve the overall performance of the company can be a rewarding and exciting conversation. Many employees don’t really understand what is expected of them, and aren’t sure what to do to get the results their manager expects.

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Motivate with Money

Originally published: 07.01.14 by George Hedley

Bonuses and incentives without targets are like playing football without end zones or scoreboards. Set the exact results you want your employees to achieve and measure them to design your incentive program.

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Find & Leverage What’s Right in Your Workplace

Originally published: 07.01.14 by Chris Walling

Appreciative Inquiry is a model of organizational development that asks leaders to shift to a positive perspective by examining the things an organization does well and thereby leverage its innate strengths to outweigh its limitations.

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Hiring Smart

Originally published: 03.01.14 by Lisë Stewart

Hiring Smart! Effective Recruitment and Selection

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Low-Cost Incentives – A New Year’s Resolution Worth Keeping

Originally published: 01.01.14 by Jenn Lonzer

How establishing a culture of appreciation can improve your customer service ratings.

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5 Tips for Handling an Employee with Attitude

Originally published: 10.01.13 by Barbara Jaurequi

These five, easy-to-master tips can turn around negative attitudes and allow employers to assume their proper roles in the workplace.

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High Performers: How to Get Them,...How to Keep Them!

Originally published: 09.01.13 by Steve Schmidt

High-performing employees are individuals every small business owner dreams of hiring. But how do you find them? How do you recruit them? And how do you keep them? Here are five strategies.

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5 Rules for Minimizing Bad Hires

Originally published: 09.01.13 by Jim Johnson

These five rules will help you hire the right people and avoid making bad decisions with potentially negative consequences.

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3 Keys to Successful Team Building

Originally published: 07.01.13 by Steve Schmidt

Team building is based on identifying and separating tasks, then assigning those tasks to the individuals who are best trained and skilled to perform them. Here are three keys that will help you build a successful team.

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Company Uniforms Help Isaac Heating & Air Conditioning With More than Just Branding

Originally published: 07.01.13 by Ray Isaac

Uniforms impact many aspects of your business: branding, productivity, safety, employee moral and employee recruitment, not to mention customer relations and – the biggie – your bottom line.

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6 Keys to Hiring A-Player Service Technicians

Originally published: 03.01.13 by Greg McAfee

In communications and computing, what we thought was the best yesterday does not even come into play today. It’s not much different in the HVACR industry. Although we’ve not evolved as quickly, the days of a standing-pilot and single-stage motor are all but over, and being just a “good mechanic” is only part of the modern service technician’s job. Here are six ways to hire the best of the bunch.

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7 Steps to Hiring and Retaining Good Support Team Members

Originally published: 03.01.13 by Beverly Flaxington

There are a lot of unsatisfied workers out there. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that about 50% of all employees leave their jobs within the first six months of being hired. And in a new survey by Right Management, a whopping 86% of employees polled said they plan to actively look for a new position this year.

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When Making Personnel Moves, Trust Your Gut

Originally published: 02.01.13 by Michael Feuer

Being the boss requires being a very good teacher. When a pupil is not measuring up, the first question is: How can you help, and what can you do to improve the person’s performance?

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How and When to End Disruptive Disagreements

Originally published: 11.01.12 by Michael Feuer

Disagreements and anger are a reality in the workplace and in life. People react differently under pressure. This behavior quickly reduces productivity. Here's how to call a timeout.

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4 Landmines of Hiring and How to Avoid Them

Originally published: 10.01.12 by Brad Remillard

How do you develop an ongoing hiring strategy?

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The ‘Moneyball’ Approach to Business Hiring

Originally published: 10.01.12 by J. Allan McCarthy

How do you develop an ongoing hiring strategy?

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Hiring a Veteran Has Benefits

Originally published: 09.01.12 by Mike Coyne

A number of government programs have been implemented to provide incentives for employers to hire veterans, and special incentives are available for employers who hire disabled veterans. Is this something you should consider?

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Take it Slow: 6 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Process

Originally published: 08.01.12 by Greg McAfee

Here are six ways to improve your hiring skills. Yes they will slow you down, but that’s better than going fast and making a hiring mistake.

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Ethical Decisions Make You, Your Company Healthier

Originally published: 05.01.12 by Kyle Scott

Being ethical has a higher cost in hard times than in good times, which makes being ethical difficult for some in the HVACR industry still suffering from weak demand. But, even good times can encourage bad behavior as one might get a sense of invincibility when the money is rolling in.

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4 Crucial Traits To Look For In New Hires

Originally published: 04.01.12 by Patrick Valtin

Look for these “invisible” attributes to find high-performance employees.

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Setting Goals: How To Inspire And Achieve With SMART And WISE Goals

Originally published: 01.01.12 by Joelle Jay

Transform your commitments into powerful goals using SMART and WISE goal setting.

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5 Apps That Will increase Productivity And Awareness

Originally published: 11.09.11 by Barbara Brown

Companies on the leading edge have discovered that great apps don’t over- whelm users with information. They help them prioritize. This means it’s easier for managers to pick which problem to solve first, while staying on top of the general health of day-to-day operations.

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The Right Way To Fire An Underperforming Employee

Originally published: 11.01.11 by Mike Coyne

A termination decision should be communicated quickly, calmly, and concisely to the employee. Rapoport notes that it is a time for action not talk.

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Welcome Aboard!

Originally published: 07.01.11 by Doug Mitchell

The U.S. government reports that by next year, the country’s workforce will fall short of filling 3 million skilled-worker positions. The result: HVACR contractors will be competing with each other and other industries for good employees.

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Simple Cafeteria Plan Could Address Health Insurance Fears

Originally published: 04.01.11 by Mike Coyne

A new type of benefit plan created by President Obama’s healthcare reform that was passed in 2010 may help smaller businesses satisfy potentially costly nondiscrimination requirements

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Health Insurance: Be Aggressive About Redesigning Plans

Originally published: 03.01.11 by Mike Coyne

Get answers to questions about the new healthcare law.

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Finding, Retaining Top Talent Becoming a Top Challenge

Originally published: 01.01.11 by Thomas Giddens

Employers need stellar talent to execute a rebound strategy and drive renewal and growth. Competition for proven managers and business leaders will grow fierce. Organizations that can differentiate themselves with a benefits package unmatched by competitors will be more successful at attracting top talent.

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5 Prescriptions to Prevent ‘Hardening of the Attitudes’ Among Employees

Originally published: 01.01.11 by Jack Singer

Recent research shows that among the least-happy and least-engaged employees, the annual per-person cost of lost productivity due to sick days is more than $28,000, versus only $840 among the happiest and most-engaged employees. Here are five powerful prescriptions for enhancing employee morale and job performance and minimizing job stress.

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Checklist: When New Hires Mean New Regulations

Originally published: 10.01.10 by Jeff Fenster

Here are some broad guidelines on human-resource compliance changes as your company grows.

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Improving Productivity Through Comprehensive Benefits

Originally published: 09.01.10 by Thomas Giddens

Business leaders have an opportunity and responsibility to help Americans close their insurance gaps, and in turn help their businesses. This is especially true at hvacr companies.

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4 Ways to Improve Communication About Benefits

Originally published: 05.01.10 by Ron Sanders

Update employees frequently and in a variety of ways.

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Organizing Information for Quick and Effective Retrieval

Originally published: 03.01.10 by Kerry Gleeson

Creating parallel systems for papers, electronic documents, and emails is the key.

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Who Can See Personnel Files?

Originally published: 07.01.09 by Mike Coyne

Who in your company do you permit to see personnel files? The second question is a legal one: Who is permitted to see personnel files as a matter of law?

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Becoming The Employer Of Choice

Originally published: 06.01.08 by Bob Niewenhous

To be successful in today’s market, contractors and hvacr business owners must get creative and make recruitment a priority.

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How to Hire Co-Workers, Part 3

Originally published: 06.01.08 by Ron Smith

It's important that you don't create unrealistic expectations.

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Insurance Surety Programs

Originally published: 05.01.08 by Kyp L. Ross

Maximizing your surety program will create a sound continuity plan for you company.

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How to Hire Co-Workers, Part 2

Originally published: 04.01.08 by Ron Smith

Dedicating time to properly hiring co-workers will ensure you only employ high performers.

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How To Hire Co-Workers

Originally published: 02.01.08 by Ron Smith

Recruiting is the practice of getting people interested in working for your company. Hiring is the practice of convincing people that your company is the one they should choose as their place of employment. To recruit and retain competent co-workers you must become an employer of choice. Ron Smith suggests how.

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24/7 Safety

Originally published: 01.01.08 by Traci Purdum

Proper and on-going safety training can prevent most accidents. Investigating accidents and routine safety audits also can keep workers safe.

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Recruiting Co-workers, Part 2

Originally published: 02.01.07 by Ron Smith

13 methods - Some you probably aren't using.

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Recruiting Co-workers, Part 1 of 2

Originally published: 01.01.07 by Ron Smith

Properly staffing a company requires that you individually address six key elements: recruiting, hiring (recruiting and hiring are totally different), orientation, training, motivation, and retention. If you correctly handle each of the six, your staffing problem for now and the future will be solved.

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The Art of Firing

Originally published: 09.01.06 by Guy Kawasaki

It’s one thing to lay off people, but quite another to fire someone.

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The Art of Recruiting

Originally published: 08.01.06 by Guy Kawasaki

Recruiting doesn't begin and end with the hiring process, it remains one of the most important aspects of any hiring manager's job.

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Ensuring an Adequate Workforce

Originally published: 1/1/10 by Rex P. Boynton

Rex Boynton discusses the main challenges that contractors will face over the coming years, including adjusting to the new environment of 13 SEER and the move to HFC-based refrigerants.

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7 Tips for Hiring Great Employees

Originally published: 1/1/10 by Garrett Miller

The HVACR industry — along with many others — will find itself on a hiring frenzy this decade as scores of skilled technicians reach retirement age. This makes it imperative to revisit your hiring processes. Are they rigorous enough? Even if you think they are, it’s worth it to tighten your hiring processes even more so that you don’t waste valuable time and money.

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