Blogs - Dangletech

Apr 30, 2009

David Wexler
The Business of HR

As An Employer, Are You Treating Your Employees As Responsible Adults?

What prompted the above question, was yet another case on the radio, while driving to the office, of a Company being sued by a customer, who claimed that their woes (in this case gambling losses, but prior cases have involved “too hot coffee” , “excessive credit card fees”, and “becoming ill through smoking”), were not as a result of the customer’s decision, but rather, through the fault of the Company. This got me to thinking about the relationship that exists between employer and employee in organizations. Is it a healthy and balanced one? How do you know if it is? What are the consequences if it isn’t? How do you fix this? Below are some thoughts.

How to buy $10,000 of Professional Advice for $800 - By Jordan Dolgin

Of the many things I’ve learned after practising business law for over 15 years, educating clients on how to manage professional fees is near the top of the list. Why? Quite simply (and this applies equally to the legal business) a happy client is a client who received what he or she expected (or more hopefully). So whose job is it to manage those expectations? That would be the service provider. “Under-sell and over-deliver” never hurts either.

What my 15 year-old son taught me about marketing - Lynda Partner

The other day I was irritated by the lack of response to an email I had sent a few days before to my 15 year old son. That night at dinner, I asked him why he hadn’t responded. His answer? “Mom, it’s not like I check email every day you know!”. That statement stopped me in my tracks. While I am a user of blogs, facebook, twitter, and text, I am also of a generation who couldn’t survive without email. I check it many times each day and couldn’t imagine going for long without it.

Pension Funding Crisis…it didn’t have to turn out this way. What CEOs may not know.

One can’t open the newspapers these days without reading about this or that pension plan in a funding crisis. The pain is particularly acute for retirees or those nearing retirement, or losing their jobs at Companies that are either in bankruptcy protection, in bankruptcy, or where bankruptcy is a potential threat. Examples abound. Nortel, GM, Chrysler, Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, Circuit City, amongst others. In the case of Canada, Defined Benefit plans, which are those that guarantee a fixed pension pay-out amount, vs. Defined Contribution plans, which provide for a retirement plan pay-in, are the ones affected by the funding shortfalls. Here’s why.

Recession-Ending News Years’ Resolutions

As we near the end of this economic downturn, and despite job-loss data; reduced earnings announcements; and current trade and budget related deficits, we are truly nearer the end than the beginning, here are a few “New Year’s Resolutions”, I’d like to suggest, for battle-weary CEOs, as this new, more positive, economic horizon dawns..

Do you bet on the horse or the jockey? - Ross E. Finlay

These are difficult times for investors. Many decisions have to be made and doing nothing is not an option. If you do nothing with your money, then you are not mitigating further risk to your portfolio and you are not taking advantage of opportunities. You are simply letting the forces of the economic world have their way with you. The value of the cash in your jeans will always go down because of inflation. Thetwenty dollar bill in my pocket yesterday could buy me 25 litres of gas. Today only 23.5 litres. We need to develop ways for our money to grow and no; lottery tickets are not a sound investment strategy!

Is It Time For Transformational Change At Corporate Boards?

I know that this is heresy, however with mounting pressures on Boards from Politicians, Investors, Law Enforcement Officers, and mainstream media, in the wake of the current investments market triggered economic meltdown, I can’t help but wonder if the way out of this perfect storm is to address seeming underlying flaws in the current make-up of Boards.
Let’s be clear though: Boards consist of hard-working, conscientious, current and former CEOs & CFOs, with a smattering of professionals and other functional heads. These individuals act with integrity and in the best interests of the corporation. Still, things are not perfect, and thus a hope that fresh thinking may lead to a better future.

Two steps forward, One step back?

While technology executives are starting to get the role of Marketing, they still fall back on expecting shortcuts to deliver results…

Ten Free Benefits You Can Provide To Your Employees Now

At a time when many organizations have frozen or reduced salaries and bonuses; suspended discretionary spending; laid off staff; and reduced employer contributions to company sponsored share purchase and/or retirement plans, employee morale and engagement have likely been negatively impacted. While we can argue that “it’s the economy, stupid”, and await better times, employers are not powerless in this recession. You have many means still, at your disposal, to have employees feeling positive about your organization, and engaged and energetic in contributing to improved corporate results. Following is my “Top 10 List” of suggested free benefits:

It’s Merger Time

To be honest, it’s “Mergers AND Acquisitions” time. When I wrote about M&A activities in this column, 9 months ago, it was from the perspective of what to consider from having led the HR aspects of such transactions. As good common sense, it hopefully made for fine reading but had little application given that we were just heading into a lengthy recession. Fast forward to today however, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that with corporate valuations so low, there’s never been a better time for companies, who remain focused on long-term growth, to acquire complementary or competing firms. With this in mind then, here’s a simple recipe for cooking up success.

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