Unhealthy employees will ultimately cause your company a hefty and ‘unhealthy’ health care bill. Wondering how to force your employees to live healthier (and ultimately happier) lives? Here are a few tips:

1. Make it mandatory for each to get an annual on-site assessment that takes a look at a number of critical indicators – blood pressure, weight, cholesterol levels etc. Assign a score to each assessment and apply awards (cash or otherwise) in those situations where the employee’s score has improved or remained the same.
2. Make it difficult for them to smoke – have nicotine levels included in the assessment above, and for those with nicotine levels above a certain limit, make it a rule that they then have to pay their own insurance premiums.
3. Fire all employees who smoke – a bit drastic and possibly some legal implications depending on state/country, but some companies have implemented this with success. Note, quite a few U.S. states have laws against firing or demoting smokers. A less drastic alternative in this case would be to offer counseling and nicotine patches in order to help employees quick smoking.
4. Host regular health seminars that cover topics such as maintaining a healthy diet and lowering cholesterol levels. Invite speakers to give quick talks on matters of health.
5. Offer gym or other work out facilities on property. Hand in hand with this, you could also offer incentives for employees who spend a minimum of X hours per week in the gym (have them sign in and out).

There is no doubt that health care costs are now talking a bigger bite from the bottom line of many companies. The goal now for company owners / managers has got to be to find ways to force/make the employees live healthier lives – ultimately being good for them, and for the company. Be careful though, it’s often a tangled legal web when you try to implement some of these tips. As mentioned above for example, many U.S. states have laws against firing or demoting smokers. Similarly, for example also, granting perks for one set of employees vs. another can often lead to a variety of grounds for a discriminatory lawsuit. Trying to force wellness can also backfire in a number of other ways – demotivating some employees, creating employee/employer antagonism etc. It will work for some, but be warned that it may very well breed resentment in others.

Good luck.

What makes Zappos different, and what many believe is the reason for its success, is its relentless innovation, top class customer service and its staff of ‘believers’. But how do you get a staff of ‘believers’?

From the start, Hsieh has really cared about making Zappo’s employees feel really, really good – happy. Strangely, this does not mean they start out by getting paid really well. More often than not, Zappos salaries are below market rates – the average hourly worker makes just over US$23,000 a year. Customer service reps start at $11 an hour, warehouse workers at $8.25. Though it covers healthcare 100%, and offers some free food (cold cuts in the cafeteria), Zappos does not offer many of the other perks that are found at other companies – there is no on-site child care, no tuition reimbursement, and no 401(k) match.

So why are Zappos’ employees happy? Well, instead of seeking to buy his employees’ loyalty, Hsieh has somehow managed to establish a corporate culture that challenges our conception of that ol’ tired phrase. Zappos’ 1,300 employees talk about the place with what is seemingly a religious fervor, and the company’s CEO is held with a regard that’s typically afforded rock stars and cult leaders. Most CEOs make their companies in their own image; Hsieh seems to have designed his company to behave the way he wishes he could.

As with many ‘dotcom’ companies, Zappos is ‘quirky’. You may see interviews being held over vodka shots, its bathrooms are plastered with “urine color” charts (ostensibly to ensure that employees are hydrated but also just to be weird and funny), and managers are actually encouraged to goof off with the people they manage.

Hsieh takes his employees out to restaurants and bars, not because he loves nightlife, but because he believes that it sets a good example. “I just want to have a company where people can hang out together,” he says, “and then come in to work the next day and not worry about whether they’ve done something stupid.”

How did he come up with these amazing HR concepts that have seemingly worked? Fresh out of college, Hsieh started LinkExchange, a company that allowed amateur Web publishers to barter for advertising by agreeing to publish one another’s ads. He was just 24 years old, when he sold the company in 1998 to Microsoft for a staggering US$265 million. Despite this success, Hsieh was unhappy; why? “The easiest way to explain it was that going into the office started to feel like work,” he said. More and more he felt that the people he had hired were not committed to the venture’s long-term growth. “The Silicon Valley culture is, ‘I’m going to work hard for four years and make millions of dollars and then retire,’ ” he says. Work, which once had felt liberating, had now become a chore. He thus resolved, that his next company would not be about a short-term payday. It would be about long-term growth, about creating a place to which he and his employees would WANT to come every day.

Zappos initial years were a struggle. Hsieh bankrolled the company until he secured a line of credit with Wells Fargo in 2003. No one had set jobs, no one cared about job titles, and everyone hung out with everyone else after work. The economy was falling apart around them, but somehow, even the struggle was fun for Zappos employees. In 20o2, Hsieh moved the company from San Francisco to Las Vegas – a staggering 70 of the company’s 100 employees made the move with the company. The move made sense from a tax and cost of living perspective, Hsieh also wanted to be in a city where restaurants and stores are open 24/7, in order to accommodate call center reps who work the graveyard shift.

Zappos growth was rapid, but it also led Hsieh to wonder how he could preserve the company’s radical dedication to customer service and its fun, loose work environment. “We always hired for culture fit,” he said, “… but we were growing so quickly that managers who hadn’t been around for very long might not know what our culture was.” Thus, he wrote an e-mail to the entire company asking for help, and he distilled the responses into a list of 10 core values, which included “Be humble,” “Create fun and a little weirdness,” and “Deliver WOW through service.” Then he assigned and collected short essays from every employee on the subject of the company’s culture and published them, unedited, in a book that he distributed to the staff.

Every year, all Zappos employees, both new hires and long-time staff, contribute a fresh essay to the book – which has grown to 480 pages. Hsieh uses it as a way not only to get employees thinking about the meaning of their work, but also to show the outside world what he has built.

Most Zappos employees are familiar with the company’s history. There is actually a four week course that employees can take on the history of Zappos. All new Zappos employees receive two weeks of classroom training. They then spend another two weeks learning how to answer customer calls. At the conclusion of the program, the Zappos trainees are famously offered US$2,000, plus time worked, to QUIT. The practice of course was Hsieh’s idea, and it began in 2005, with a $100 offer. “Our training team had gotten good at figuring out who wasn’t going to make it, and we were thinking, How do you get rid of those people?” says Hsieh. Paying them to quit saves the company money by weeding out people who would jump ship anyway, and allows those who remain to make a public statement of commitment to their new employer.

In recent times, Hsieh has overseen the development of an even more comprehensive Zappos class curriculum. The first course, intended for employees who have been at Zappos for two years or less, involves more than 200 hours of class time (during work hours) and students are mandated to read nine business books. Topics include Using Twitter and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Advanced students can take classes in public speaking and financial planning. “The vision is that three years from now, almost all our hires will be entry-level people,” Hsieh said. “We’ll provide them with training and mentorship, so that within five to seven years, they can become senior leaders within the company.”

Another thing that Hsieh has done, is that he has made the company’s long-term plans clear for all his employees to see and know. A sales chart in the lobby informs everyone in the building that the day before, Zappos sold $x.x million worth of merchandise. A computer printout in the hallway notes that there are currently 4.1 million items (mostly shoes) in stock in the company’s Kentucky warehouse.

There is a company library, which is filled with multiple copies of two dozen business and self-help books. Employees are urged to take whatever grabs their fancy. One of Zappos’s core values is personal growth, thus the books are given out to help employees grow with the company.

Zappos is, of course, different too in terms of the actual employee hiring process. Prospective hires must pass an hourlong “culture interview” before being passed on to whatever department they are applying to. Questions include, “On a scale of 1 — 10, how weird are you?” and “What was your last position called? Was that an appropriate title?” If there is a disagreement between HR and the manager doing the hiring, Hsieh personally interviews the candidate and makes the final call. His strategy is to get the applicant into a social situation to see if they can connect emotionally.

It is important to note too that unlike most call center operators, Zappos does not keep track of call times or require operators to read from a script. Staff will often offer unsolicited commentary on a customer’s shoe selections. In his speeches, Hsieh likes to point out that Zappos does not have specific policies for dealing with each customer service situation. Customer service reps are encouraged to make independent decisions — for instance, offering a refund on a defective item — and they are supposed to send a dozen or so personal notes to customers EVERY DAY. They are encourage to make a Personal Emotional Connection with the customer.

During Zappos’ early days, long workdays would often spill into late-night socializing. Hsieh enjoyed this so much that he formalized it: Managers are now required to spend 10-20% of their time goofing off with the people they manage. “It’s just kind of a random number we made up,” Hsieh said. “But part of the way you build company culture is hanging out outside of the office.”

For Hsieh, “… this is not just a company. It’s like a way of life.”

Excerpts for this article were drafted from Max Chafkin’s feature on Zappos which appeared in the May 2009 issue of Inc. magazine.

1. Saying that the employee is on salary. Understand that even salaried workers must be paid overtime IF their jobs meet certain exemption criteria. Put simply, if they are not entrusted with very many independent decisions, then chances are they may qualify for overtime.
2. Saying that longer hours are already in his/her contract. Some employers try to avoid paying overtime by ‘building’ extra hours into employment contracts. Note though, employees can’t ‘opt out’ of overtime pay.
3. Saying that he/she already makes a lot of money. White-collar workers who earn more than $100K per annum and meet the ‘independent judgment’ criteria are ineligible for overtime ONLY if they make at least $455 per week in guaranteed salary. In most cases, bonuses don’t count.
4. Saying that he/she is an outside sales rep. Outside sales persons are generally exempt from overtime pay. However, if they spend more than half their time in the office, they may actually qualify.

Employees … know your rights. Employers, treat your employees right!

IN PRISON … you spend the majority of your time in an 8′X10′ cell.
AT WORK … you spend most of your time in a 6′X8′ cubicle.

IN PRISON … you get three meals a day (free).
AT WORK … you only get a break for one meal and probably have to pay for it yourself.

IN PRISON … you get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK … you get rewarded for good behavior with more WORK.

IN PRISON … a guard locks and unlocks the doors for you.
AT WORK … you must carry around a security card and unlock open all the doors yourself.

IN PRISON … you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK … you get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON … they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK … you can not even speak to your family and friends.

IN PRISON … all expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work at all.
AT WORK … You get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for the prisoners.

HMMMMMmm?

Which Sounds Better?

So what are you waiting for ……… KILL YOUR BOSS!

A few waitressing tips:

• Look the part. Ensure that your clothes are clean and smell fresh. Always smile with your heart even if a piano just fell over you. But don’t be too cheesy.
• Know all the items that are on your menu and be able to comment on how items look and taste, how the portions are and what side orders best complement the meal. Also the types of drinks, costs, popular ones and so on.
• Always be nice to the kids. Smile at them like they are the CUTEST you’ve ever seen. Parents like that … especially the new parents.
• If the order is taking too long, don’t hide from your table. If your manager is ok with it, offer your customer a cup of soup on the house if things are taking too long. If they know you are trying to keep them happy they will appreciate it even if they decline the soup, or free dessert, or salad, or say, “I won’t charge you for coke since it took so long”, etc. Of course make sure it’s OK with your boss.
• Keep checking on your customers to ensure that they are comfortable. Keep up the drink refills and try to bring it before they ask if you can.
• Take the unwanted dishes away as soon as they are finished. Don’t leave them there until the customer has to tell you when to take them.
• You can ruin the whole experience by making them wait too long for their bill, but also don’t make them feel rushed and ask if they want dessert.
• Up sell … the bigger the bill, then obviously, the bigger the tip. Offer appetizers, salad, dessert, etc., and be specific. Say “Would you like to try out buffalo wings or an order of our famous onion rings to start off with tonight?” not simply “Do you want an appetizer?” Asking if they want to try something sounds better than buying.
• Invite them to come back and remind them of your name. They may ask for you again.
• Depending on the party, you might save time and frustration later by confirming at the beginning if the bill will be all in one or not.
• Never count your tips in front of the guest. It makes one look greedy.

That’s about it; and remember to be the best you can, no matter the job!

1. Stay positive as much as possible – place positive words, quotes or poems in visibles places at your work station so you can view them from time to time to help uplift you and keep you in a positive frame of mind.
2. Avoid being late – lateness breeds stress as you rush and even become frenetic in an attempt to make up for lost time.
3. Sooth yourself with soothing music – it will help to keep you calm, relaxed and focused.
4. Take time out to relax and have fun – work hard yes, but outside of work hours you should try to relax and have more fun, specifically by doing more things that you enjoy immensely.
5. Connect with co-workers who emit ‘positive vibes’ – you can draw on the emotional strength of others.
6. Keep in good health – eat well, exercise, maintain a good personal appearance. Your emotional state can truly be tied to this.
7. Plan for the future – set goals, aims and dream big. Your current situation is almost certainly not your lifetime calling.

An administrative assistant (AA) has several responsibilities that are not only time consuming but is also frustrating at times. In business places where there is a lot of processing of information, meetings and other important appointments then there is literally no time to be idle. There are responsibilities such as typing daily reports, ordering supplies, updating information, making travel plans (when required), planning budgets, ensuring that the communication channels are clear and that deadlines are kept, delegating responsibilities for menial tasks to junior/clerical staff, keeping all paper work safe and confidential and being responsible for the general overseeing of all office procedures among other things. In addition to this, a good secretary is one who is congenial, does not take things personally and should be able to account for all that happens in the office space and other areas under his/her management.

Having a good personality is crucial as you have to interact with persons from varying backgrounds who at times can be abusive (verbally and otherwise) when things go wrong. It is expected that all tasks should be carried out intelligently, discreetly (when required) and efficiently. So being able to manage time effectively is a plus for an Administrative Assistant.

Truly not everyone can manage the job of an Administrative Assistant. You have to have team spirit and be an effective manager who does not sit around waiting to be told what to do. Some of the attributes that an Administrative Assistant should include having good oral and verbal communication skills, manage time effectively, maturity, professionalism, dress appropriately and be confidential.

There are times in which some managers step outside the boundaries of proper ethics and try to engage their assistants in activities that are somewhat demeaning or uncomfortable. In celebrating the great work of Administrative Assistants, it is only fair that some light be cast on some of these issues to make us more aware of what we do and say and how we conduct our affairs. The following are issues that some of us may take for granted as managers. You may want to think about the following for future reference:

Be mindful that your Administrative Assistant has a specific job description and although he/she may go beyond the call of duty at times, telling him/her “get me some coffee” can be demeaning. If you have an office attendant then delegate that responsibility to that person. If not make a cup of coffee for yourself. It’s easier because you know exactly how you like it.

It certainly is not amusing to order your Administrative Assistant to get your dry cleaning done or to pick up your children. These are your personal affairs and you should make outside arrangement for such. Delegating this responsibility can put your Administrative Assistant in an uncomfortable position and could backfire on you as things can become too personal.

Another personal issue that you should avoid is having your AA send gifts to both your wife and other significant other. This is distasteful and could force your AA into lying to cover for you. This type of inappropriate situation also leaves you vulnerable for demands to be made on you because your AA knows too much about your personal relationships. In essence, many AA’s would prefer to stick to their jobs and not involve themselves with your personal issues.

Try not to make condescending remarks to your Administrative Assistant. No one likes being taken for granted or ‘talked down’ to. This could create a strain in the work relationship and when you really need him/her to cover for you he/she may not feel inclined to go the extra mile based on the treatments received.

The most inappropriate and uncomfortable issue is that of ‘sexual advances’. It is true that a few AA’s might aspire to be a personal assistant but most do not. Making sexual advances on your AA is punishable by law but not everyone will go through the rigors of the justice system and so some managers take advantage of this. So please don’t make it uncomfortable for them. Try to practice professionalism and maintain the respect of your staff. Remember that respect should be garnered and not forced.

In conclusion, our Administrative Assistants are the ones who hold the business together. They know overall day-to-day ‘running’ of your business. Their job is quite important. Show them the respect that they deserve. After all you don’t have the time to do all the reports, budgets, ordering of supplies and all the other meaningful responsibilities that they carry out so well everyday. Now you decide, is it easy or not?

Today, effective administrative assistants handle responsibilities once reserved for managerial and professional staff and as such, performing and co-coordinating an office’s administrative activities is just a part of the job. Office assistants play a crucial role in small businesses. The last thing you need to worry about is whether or not the daily routines of the workplace are running smoothly. We decided to provide you with a few guidelines to assist you in making the right choice, so be sure to follow these helpful tips on how to hire an office assistant.

Your administrative assistant should be able to do more than type letters and answer phones. A capable administrative assistant should also possess the ability to bring organization and professionalism to the workplace. To maximize the effectiveness of your administrative assistant, you will need to know what you are looking for before you begin the hiring process.

Competence: This is one of the first qualities you should look for in an administrative assistant. If he/she is untrained or unable to perform their job at a satisfactory level you may find that business could flounder. An administrative assistant needs to be computer literate and demonstrate a working knowledge of word processing, scheduling, database, and spreadsheet software (e.g. MS Office). He/She should also possess the interpersonal and analytical skills that the job requires.

Organization: Another important quality you should look for is organization. Remember, your administrative assistant will be required to play a central role in tasks such as scheduling and coordination of resources. To be effective, you will need someone who is highly organized with an ability to multitask. Otherwise, you may find yourself with a mess on your hands.

Time Management: This is also a key qualification for an office assistant. A small business is a fast-paced working environment. The person who you choose needs to be comfortable working in such an environment and demonstrate the skills needed to keep up with you without dropping the ball or complaining.

Personality: Personality is a quality that is sometimes overlooked when hiring an administrative assistant. You need to ensure that the potential candidate has a personality that will mesh with others within the environment despite how good he/she may look on paper to function effectively in your company. Even so, it is difficult to get to know an applicant in a single interview. It never hurts to conduct a second or third interview before deciding whether the applicant’s personality is a good fit for you and your workplace.

Confidentiality: Finally, it is very important that your office assistant demonstrates the ability to maintain confidentiality. He/She will be privy to information that other people in the company do not know. Employee salaries, correspondence, personal scheduling among other things is likely to cross your administrative assistant’s desk sooner or later. Ensure that you clearly communicate the need for confidentiality to all applicants and make sure the person you hire is someone you can trust.

1. Determine your needs and what can you afford. If your employees are mainly highly paid, skilled workers, you may possibly need to at least match what the competition. If you have a lot of young workers, then you may be able to get away with only offering coverage for the employees, not their family. If you need to retain older employees, then family coverage will be important. These are just a few of the considerations in this class.
2. Understand what’s available. There are a maze of options and possibilities. Sit down with an insurance agent who will guide, not confuse you, as you seek to identify the best possible health plan option for your company.
3. Identify & choose a vendor. Most small-group health insurance are sold through agents. A so-called independent agent will sell policies for various vendors / carriers, whereas a “captive” agent represents just one. Unless you’re determined to go with a particular insurer, you’re best off comparison shopping through an independent. Agents seldom compete on price; so you will have to rely on more subjective factors such as experience, demeanor, and the menu of value added services that each broker offers.

Good luck, and all the best to you and your company!