The VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 was passed in November 2011 to help the approximately one million unemployed veterans find employment.  The Act includes a number of new programs and improvements to current programs.
Improved Transition Services

Under the Act, improvements to transition assistance programs for separating service members allow service members to apply for federal employment before they leave the military.  Service members also have the opportunity to take apprenticeships or enroll in on-the-job training programs with military or defense contractors while on leave.  These opportunities allow veterans to have a head start on finding employment. 

As more and more employees use social media to connect with friends and families, it should come as no surprise that social media would also be used by employees to complain about their working conditions.  In some situations, employees may rant about their supervisors, their pay or even the company, in general.  So what course of action does an employer have to protect its supervisors and the company’s reputation?

In most everything we do, we find a “trick” to make the process easier and faster. After we develop these tricks, they become work habits in our everyday activities. Developing  everyday safety habits can keep you injury free through the year. Here are ten safety habits to live by:

One of the most negative behaviors managers can possess is poor listening skills. Unfortunately, many workplaces consist of environmental factors that support poor listening skills.  For example, most managers are constantly interrupted by telephone calls, office walk-ins, pagers and deadlines.  On a personal level, managers may be distracted with personal matters affecting their health or family.  In other cases, managers may be in a hurry to end the conversation so they may interrupt the speaker without fully hearing what the speaker is saying or may not give the speaker enough time to talk through the matter.  These situations can ultimately lead the manager to make decisions without first gathering all the facts which in turn is likely to result in the speaker feeling disrespected.

Gotcha… you thought this was about employee termination… didn’t you?  Not quite: Two issues which plague many companies are the wellness of their employees and the productivity of company meetings.  While the two may seem to be from opposite ends of the spectrum when running a company, there is a simple solution which can be hugely beneficial to improving both scenarios.

“There are many benefits of company wellness programs including that: employees tend to be more productive, have lower health care costs, lower rates of absenteeism, and have fewer workers’ compensation claims (http://www.infinitehealthcoach.com/benefits-of-corporate-wellness-programs.html).  Unfortunately, employee wellness programs can be inaccessible to many companies because of cost, time constraints or a combination of both.