Managing Employees and HR Articles

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Taking One for the Dream: Paying Yourself Nothing

When, if ever, does it make sense for an entrepreneur to stop taking a salary?

By Reed Richardson

It's a long-held rule of running your own small business: don't forget to pay yourself. However, in an upside-down economy that continually provides exceptions to all the old rules, many entrepreneurs are finding that paying themselves is yet another piece of conventional wisdom worthy of reconsideration. But before you go cold turkey on salary, it's important...

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Travel Smart

Travel Smart

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Posted by: CommunityTeam, Jun 5, 2009

Travel Smart
Ten tips for travelers on a budget

By Max Berry

Travel can be hard on a small business owner's budget, especially now that airlines are charging fees for once-complimentary services like checking a bag. But with a little forethought and a willingness to root out the best deals, your next business trip could take you through friendlier-not to mention more cost-effective-skies than your ever imagined. Here are ten tips for business travelers on a budget...

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Running a Family Business - Keeping it in the Family

How to keep your family business alive, prospering and-most importantly-in the family

By Christopher Freeburn

Entrepreneurs who have invested years of time, dedication, and resources into building a business often want to see that enterprise live on as a family asset even after they step aside from the actual operation of the company. Many hope to see their new business become something that each new generation of their family can inherit, passing the business from them...

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How to handle workplace gossip

By Reed Richardson

"Have you heard the latest?" Every day, this phrase or one similar to it, can be found in nearly every workplace, whether it's written in the subject line of a discreet intra-office email or spoken in hushed tones across the water cooler or behind cubicle walls. What follows this conspiratorial come-on is more often than not unverified, unsubstantiated, and occasionally unseemly information, the type of office chatter that can appear, on its face, as harmle...

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Getting Help: Employee vs. Independent Contractor

As much as we may think we can handle a multitude of tasks in our business, the reality is that we need help to work efficiently and grow our companies. With the unemployment rate high, there are many talented workers that you can tap for the work you need done. How you set up the work arrangement can have important business and tax consequences, so do it right!

by BigIdeas4Biz

Your options
You can hire employees and grow your payroll, use independen...

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Tell Me About Yourself

Tell Me About Yourself

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Feb 19, 2009

Great interview questions that get to the heart of a job candidate's capabilities

By Reed Richardson


Be prepared
You would never run right from a conference call into a job interview if you were trying to get hired, so you shouldn't engage in the same, careless behavior if you're going to be the one doing the hiring. Instead, spend at least 15 to 30 minutes before an interview going over a job candidate's resume so you can prepare some in...

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Get Out of the Office

Get Out of the Office

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Feb 10, 2009


Providing your employees with a reliable social support system is a key way to ensuring they stay happy and productive

By Max Berry


The link between work stress and serious depression should be a concern for every small business owner, but the way to keep your employees happy and productive may be simpler than you think. A 2007 study conducted by researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center-and subsequently published in the Americ...

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How Many Current Employees are in Your Departure Lounge?

By HRExpert

Nobody likes to talk about it, even though it is happening in workplaces all across America - employees who have decided it is time to fly the coop. Departure lounges are overflowing with these types of employees - all waiting for their final boarding call.

Employees rarely start a job thinking they will tour around the company for a while and then seek greener pastures, and yet it happens all the time. Here are five things you can do to prevent employ...

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Campus Candidates

Campus Candidates

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Jan 20, 2009

Hiring recent college grads makes great business sense. Plus, given the chance, they could even teach you a thing or two

By Max Berry


Despite what some recent figures from America's job market would have you believe, companies of all sizes are hiring new college graduates at a higher rate than in years past. A recent survey conducted by CollegeGrad.com found that 60% of American companies surveyed plan to recruit more grads in 2008 than they did last ...

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Firing the Right Way

Firing the Right Way

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Oct 28, 2008

How To Make a Difficult Task a Little Bit Easier

By Christopher Freeburn


There are few tasks less pleasant than firing an employee. There are bound to be hurt feelings and often emotions can run high. As difficult as losing a job is for the soon-to-be-former employee, however, informing him or her of that fact can be profoundly upsetting for the employer as well, particularly in a small business setting. Worse, terminating employment can produce more ...

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Engaging From Afar

Engaging From Afar

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Oct 8, 2008

Keeping remote employees engaged can be a difficult task for a small business owner. But when managed well, your off-site employees can be just as productive as the ones you see every day.

by Max Berry


Sometime during the 20th century, the water cooler assumed a crucial position in the American office-it became a trading post not only for gossip and recaps of last night's television shows, but also for ideas and advice. With a growing number of 21st-c...

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Farm It Out

Farm It Out

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Jun 19, 2008

How outsourcing payroll can save your business time and money

By Chris Freeburn

As an employer, you are probably more than happy to pay your employees well for their work, but handling all the paperwork that comes with each paycheck is probably not something any small business owner anticipates with pleasure. Keeping payroll records in order, keeping track of the correct taxes and dispensing checks or managing direct deposits for your employees is a time consumin...

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Interviewing 101

Interviewing 101

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Apr 17, 2008

By Chris Freeburn

Hiring the right employees is an immeasurably important task for small business owners, since they will be the people who keep the business operating on a daily basis. They may also be the face or voice of your business that customers interact with when they visit your office in person or call on the phone. The level of competence, interest and interpersonal skills your employees display to customers and to each other in the workplace will largely determine whether...

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The Buck Stops Here

The Buck Stops Here

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Apr 17, 2008

By Chris Freeburn

Setting your employees' salaries can be a challenging task for first time employers, or even established employers who are recruiting for a newly created position or trying to keep the employees they already have. Salaries that are too low will fail to attract new qualified candidates, and may cause current employees to begin to look to your competitors. Conversely, salaries that are too high will put a strain on the business's budget and may disgruntle other emplo...

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Fire Yourself

Fire Yourself

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Posted by: SBOCTeam, Mar 30, 2008

How delegating can free up your time and improve your business

By Max Berry

No small business owner can do it all. The idea of absolute control may be appealing, but a little delegation is necessary if you don't want to spread yourself too thin. While training an employee to perform a task you already know how to do may feel like a waste of time, the short term investment you put into teaching someone else will pay dividends.

"Many business owners ar...

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