iPads for Kaplan Thaler Employees

Rewarding employees can help strengthen loyalty within companies. The rewards might not have to be quite like The Kaplan Thaler Group which rewarded every employee with an iPad but even offering shares to employees or simply taking a cue from FedEx with their increase in salaries and benefits over the course of time help strengthen a company, both in terms of current employees and potential recruits.

When you do a search for your company's name + employees, what kind of results turn up?

Kaplan Thaler: http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2010/12/kaplan-thaler-gives-every-employee-an-ipad.html
FedEx: http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/16/news/economy/thebuzz/

How far would your employees go to help save the company?

Employees for an airline have released a calendar of themselves to help raise money and boost interest in the company. Would your employees do something like this to save your company?
via adrants.com:
http://www.adrants.com/2010/11/unemployed-flight-attendants-launch.php

R/GA Explores the personal lives of employees

The recent video that has been posted covers the DJs within the company.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=742661952697
A previous video post tackled those that had tattoos.


Dipping into the lives of your current employees allows you to define an image of your comapny that potential candidates can identify with. The highlights may not speak to all of your employees but it opens the door for a discussion and sets the tone of your company for employees. While your company may not be quite as informal as to highlight DJing and Tattoos, there is always something within the lives of your employees that candidates can connect with and you can utilize to establish a founding bond between your company and potential hires.

HR - Employee Retention – 7 Tactics to Retain Your Most Valuable Asset

Jim Stroud has a nice article about retaining your valuable employees once you have them. If companies aren't making a big push to hire then this down time is allowing people to assess the workers and find the true contributors and also figure out who is not helping the company. Take a look through the article and let us know your thoughts. http://www.therecruiterslounge.com/2009/11/03/employee-retention-7-tactics-to-retain-your-most-valuable-asset/

HR - Preparing your workplace for a possible swine flu pandemic

This is a nice article about things to consider in light of the recent swine flu spread. Though it might not get to be as much of a problem as this article details into, it is good to have a plan of how to react. (Maybe also shop around for a happy mask like the one in the picture...)

^_^ Love it!

http://www.thehrspecialist.com/hrs_articles/homepage_featured/27143/Preparing_your_workplace_for_a_possible_swine_flu_pandemic.hr

HR - 8 rules for recognizing and rewarding employees

The HR Specialist posted a nice article on rewarding employees. (Lots of people working on retainment lately!) Some of the things that are mentioned are defining the criteria for a reward, rewarding everyone who meets that criteria, paying attention to the specific wants of employees and remembering to say "Thank you." Thoughts? What are some unique ways you have rewarded your employees fora job well done?

http://www.thehrspecialist.com/hrs_articles/tools/memos_to_managers/26695/8_rules_for_recognizing_and_rewarding_employees.hr

HR PRACTICES - 10 No-Cost Ways to Recognize Employees

http://www.therecruiterslounge.com/2009/04/13/10-no-cost-ways-to-recognize-employees/

This is a nice article detailing how to help boost the morale of your employees while not spending too much. Any suggestions?

Our boss pretty much covers all these and tosses in a nice breakfast morning once in a while where he cooks for us. It keeps it close and personal and lets us all hang out with each other before we hit the trenches again. Almost every month we also run one theme Friday ranging from Hawaiian to Pirates vs Ninjas. We love Patriot!

ONLINE - E-Bay for Job Postings? Jobaphiles.com

The site is called Jobaphiles.com and right now they specifically cater to the Boston area and are only in their Beta stage. Other cities have posted on there already and they have a different way of handling their openings.

Employers post a free description of their job and they can either list the price range they are willing to pay or they let the potential employees bid on the projects/part-time work/full-time work. Employers are not required to hire anyone if they don’t like the bids or the quality of the applicants. They are also able to send private messages to candidates. Right now this style of the job board focuses on recent graduates and college students. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that employers are able to rate their employee on the website once the job is complete. Those who are bidding are also able to see other people’s responses.

This offers an interesting chance to reach out to those about to enter the job market and offer internships, paid/unpaid/lowest bid/best resume, and tap into the college talent pool.

While limited to Boston at this time, they do have an option to be notified when a Jobaphiles is available for their area.

What are your thoughts on this site? Have you come across anything like this before?