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Year: 2011

Get healthier or expect to pay more

Veridian Credit Union issued this ultimatum to workers: Quit smoking, curb obesity, or you’ll pay more for health care in 2013. That workplace trend is on the rise, giving us one more reason to make “get healthier” a resolution for 2012.

Inter vs. intra

An admin reader recently wrote, “My goodness, will you please do a piece that tells people the difference between ‘intra’ and ‘inter’? While you’re at it, ‘effect’ vs. ‘affect’ wouldn’t hurt, either.”

Victim of lies and political warfare?

Question: “My former boss and I have become the victims of another manager’s envy and greed. My boss was a brilliant executive who grew our business to ten times its original size.  But then another senior manager, “Mike” became jealous of his success. Mike openly criticized my boss and tried to insert himself into our operations.  My boss firmly pushed him out. Next, Mike got one of our employees to spy on us and began telling the CEO lies about our department. We ignored this, assuming that no one would believe him. Then the worst happened. My boss was demoted, and I was transferred to another office. Mike took over our department…

Handling customer complaints

Harvard Business Review suggests you follow these 3 tips to expedite the complaint process: 1) Understand the full context—The more information you have, the easier it is to determine the root of the dissatisfaction. 2) Propose a resolution—What would make the situation better for your customer? 3) Show respect—Be empathetic; reframe harsh criticism into constructive […]

Work with a complaining co-worker?

Watch out, complaining can be contagious. And grousing drives away potential allies who see you both as whiners. When you’re irritated by something, don’t feel compelled to talk about it. Ask yourself, “What’s to gain?” that should help you avoid injecting negative observations.

Just how important is this tech stuff?

How important is the Internet to younger workers’ lives? Very. For example, in a re­­cent eye-opening study of college students and young professionals, one in three considers the Internet to be as important as air, water, food and shelter.