0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

204 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
“T” is for being a team player. Hire people who will tell you what
is on their mind. You can spend your whole life playing psychoanalyst
with your employees—and it’s a waste of time.
“H” is for hungry. “I need people who are hungry and want to work,”
says Goltz.
After implementing the BATH system, Goltz said his turnover rate
dropped to 10 percent. He has another great idea:
Set up a group interview. Bring in several job applicants at once to
tell them about your business. Take a coffee break. Don’t be surprised
if some folks disappear. But it’s better to scare off the losers before you
hire them.
GREAT
Perform a Personnel Checkup
You get regular medical and dental checkups, right? So
IDEA
how about giving your business a personnel checkup?
The reason: Every year, thousands of unhappily terminated employees sue
their former employers. Their complaints, justified or not, cost small business
owners millions of dollars in legal fees, emotional distress, and lost
productivity.
There are so many complex regulations on the books that it’s tough to
keep up.
As her fast-growing public relations firm approached 50 employees,
Ellen LaNicca, former president and cofounder of Patrice Tanaka & Co.,
felt she needed expert help. Many state and federal employee regulations
kick in at the 50-employee level, and she wanted to be sure she was in full
compliance.
LaNicca turned to Peter Skeie, an attorney and cofounder of The
Personnel Department Inc., to sort through the morass of laws she had to
deal with. Skeie and his colleague, Craig Chatfield, left their jobs at Fortune
500 companies to set up their own human resources consulting service in
New York City. (They’ve since closed the company, but Chatfield has a new
firm: http://hrinnovations.us.)