Your Biz : Staffing

Will swine flu make your company sick?

Eve Tahmincioglu — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:01:00 GMT

If everyone at your small company started coughing tomorrow you might suspect swine flu. But would you send your workers home? Could you send them home?

After reporting earlier this week that one of its employees was diagnosed with swine flu, Ernst & Young told its workers they could work from home. Typically, large firms like Ernst & Young have the technological resources and size to make such an offer.

The accounting giant later said it could not confirm the earlier diagnosis, but with the number of swine flu cases growing each day this is an issue you should think about carefully. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has told American workers to stay home if they feel sick. If they were to take her advice, what would that mean for your business?

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‘Hire slowly, fire quickly’

JJ Ramberg — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:04:00 GMT

One of my regular guests, Phil Town, author of the book "Rule #1" has offered us the following advice many times on the show:

"Hire slowly, fire quickly."

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How you can rock on Twitter

Eve Tahmincioglu — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:50:00 GMT

Many of you who read my Twitter post a couple of months ago took me up on the offer to get on the social networking site and started tweeting to help promote your business.

Unfortunately, many of you just don't seem to get Twitter yet (don't worry -- I'm not going to name names).

You can't just tweet over and over again about your products or services. Well, actually you can do whatever you want on Twitter, but just listing products in hopes someone will head over to your Web site and buy your wares is going to get you ostracized, aka un-followed, and fast.

For the majority of people out there that don't know, first I'll start by explaining what the heck Twitter is.

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Customer service overkill can kill you

Eve Tahmincioglu — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:47:00 GMT

I was recently raving to a friend about the wine selection at a local wine shop. He told me he knew about the place and agreed it was top notch, but he also said he no longer shops there.

Turns out my friend feels the wine shop staff is "overly nice."

Huh? I said to myself.

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From the floor of the 2009 Toy Fair

Roland Jones — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:03:00 GMT

We're debuting a new segment in the show in a couple of weeks where we get small business owners’ take on important questions from the floor of the nation’s biggest trade shows.

Earlier this week I went to the 2009 Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. As the mother of two kids, I found it hard to walk through the show and not get distracted at every turn, but once I got my fill of testing out new toy trucks and pens that light up, I did get the chance to get to the task at hand: Getting a reading on how the companies at the show feel about their prospects in this economy.

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If banks start lending again, will it help?

Eve Tahmincioglu — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:40:00 GMT

With the credit markets gummed up, everyone is holding their breath and waiting for banks and other lenders to re-open their money spigots. But for many small businesses the funds may be too little, too late.

Until recently, GiGi Stetler's 35-employee business -- RV sales Broward in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- was booming, hitting sales of more than $20 million in 2007.

In 2008, the business "crashed," she said. Sales plunged to $11 million, and three months ago she let go of the bulk of her staff and now only employs nine. A decline in sales and the tightening of credit was the double whammy for her business.

"We can barely pay the electric," she laments.

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Health care headache for small businesses

Eve Tahmincioglu — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:38:00 GMT

It's getting ugly out there for small business owners that have been struggling to keep on paying high health insurance premiums for themselves and their workers. So ugly, in fact, that more and more are just dropping coverage.

Because of ever-escalating premiums and falling sales, Craig Sumsky, director of Philadelphia-based DJ company Cutting Edge Entertainment, had to put the kibosh on health insurance for his office manager this year.

In response, Sumsky's office manager handed in her two-week notice. She needed a job that could get her benefits, he said.

Sumsky is not alone. One recent poll put out by credit card company Discover uncovered a disturbing trend.

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Bad economy = better job applicants

Eve Tahmincioglu — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:03:00 GMT

Mickey Donatello, a co-owner of two restaurants in Wilmington, Del., has noticed a "bizarre" phenomenon -- the job candidates he's been interviewing recently are actually qualified.

"Up until about four months ago, whenever we interviewed people it was like you were just replacing one standard employee with the next, but never stepping up, especially with skilled labor, like sous chefs or chefs," said Donatello, who owns Lucky's Coffee Shop and the Corner Bistro. "But now we're seeing guys that are qualified, almost over-qualified."

This is the positive side to a pretty grim jobs picture. With so many companies scaling back, or shutting their doors, there is a growing pool of talented people who are looking for work.

And entrepreneurs like Donatello are benefiting.

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Recession busters

Eve Tahmincioglu — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Recently we decided to take the kids to the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan and we encountered parking hell.

I was circling the neighborhoods near the museum looking for someone who was pulling out of a primo spot, and my husband kept insisting I just pull into a parking lot. He had to go to the bathroom but I just couldn’t bring myself to drop $40 plus for a lot.

Turns out, a young entrepreneur’s recession-busting idea could have saved us all some grief.

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Some businesses changing for Obama

Eve Tahmincioglu — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:56:00 GMT

Before the election, a small business owner named Paul sent me an e-mail. He said he planned to immediately fire one of his two employees if Barack Obama won because he feared tax increases.

"Guess which one it might be?" he asked. "The one with the Obama bumper sticker and who voted for the tax increases, or the one who voted for no tax increase?"

His answer:

"Plain and simple – I will keep the one who wants my small business to be successful and not the one who's looking for a free ride on the Obama unemployed express," he wrote.

The way Paul saw it, Obama would usher in tax increases for business owners like him.

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