Hot answers tagged human-resources
11
How do I motivate someone who values his time significantly more than money to come to work on time?
Is the problem that he is just coming in late and that you like punctuality (in which case YOU should consider adapting) or does his coming late make a difference in the overall output?
Plenty of people think things should be done a certain way and expect others to do it that way. That's unfortunate because a) it may not be the best way and b) may be the ...
9
We just completed the process of selecting a new PEO for Blue Fish. We looked at Administaff, ADP TotalSource, and TriNet.
For the past 10 years, we've been with Administaff, one of the originators of the PEO concept. They are considered the "cadillac" PEO provider - they tend to be the most expensive option, but they have a higher quality offering than the ...
8
Fred Wilson have written well about this here.
As with everything, it depends.
If you look at the valley companies, commonly a stock option pool of around 5-10% pre Series A is set aside, and is supposed to last during the lifetime of the company (up until M&A or IPO). Out of this, stock options reach couples of percentages, or even more with key ...
8
Your employee's personal finances aren't your business. Asking would be extremely unprofessional. I wouldn't get in the business of being their lender, ever. If they are having babies, that's their job to plan for -- and enabling their ignorance of that responsibility through advances and such isn't helping. Pay should be based on value to the company.
...
7
You can show you care about your employees and their families by your culture, benefits and the way you treat them.
For example:
allow flexible time for work
offer additional vacation time instead of raises for us people who prefer that over money
offer day care or dry cleaning or lawn cutting services or stipend
pay for gym memberships
pay for financial ...
6
Illegal or not might depend on the country you live in.
But anyway, you employer is an idiot. You are not asking for more money because you need it. You are asking for more money because you have developed yourself and are worth of it.
Even if you would live "frivolously" it is really not the matter of your boss.
I would tell him that this question is far ...
5
Its really an impossible one to answer as it depends on you & your sisters management style, the nature of your work, your cousins work ethic and your relationships - all of which are unknown to us.
I would consider what the impact on your family relationships would be if they don't perform and have to be disciplined or even fired.
If they are unlikely ...
4
I'm going to take a little different approach to what I'm seeing on here so far. Everyone else seems to almost be saying "Time Off = Bad", and "Danger! Don't trust your team to take time off correctly!"
I just don't see it that way.
So this is as much a response to those other answers as it is to the question.
It kind of depends on who you're talking ...
4
If an employee's performance or demeanor at work is suffering, you should definitely ask what's going on. While I wouldn't recommend lending money from the business, there are all kinds of things you might be able to do on a personal level.
You might also be surprised by what you find out.
I had one employee who was depressed because his parents were ...
4
As much as I hate to say it, running a business has to be about making a business profitable, not about creating jobs, even if those jobs are for family.
I've been in this situation myself, where I've considered hiring family or close friends who don't have a job. They're important people in your lives, and you want to help, but giving them a job that ...
3
Managing volunteers is one of the most difficult thing to do (some they it is impossible).
You always have to think about the reason why do they volunteer. If you can capture this reason and provide an environment in which the needs behind the reason are satisfied, you probably have no problems with a particular volunteer. On the other hand, if this is ...
3
I think the 'low' in the question was intentional. The implication is that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. The poster believes that a 'high-tech' company cannot stay competitive without periodically bringing in new employees.
A much better study which more closely addresses the actual problem would look at the effectiveness of high-tech companies ...
3
You may see these two:-
https://www.odesk.com/contractors/software-development/
https://www.odesk.com/jobs/software-development/
And some other similar FreeLance websites e.g. FreeLancer.com,etc.
You'll have to collect data by yourself, and if you are able to do some analysis, I would like it to be shared on this post so that other people could also ...
3
I would suggest reading theres articles on whether a job offer is a good deal, we dont pay you to work here, we pay you so you can work here and cult creation for startups
You should speak to an accountant about what the tax implications are for your employees (it would be quite the demotivator if they have to pay a bunch of tax on stock they cant sell)! ...
3
In the past 20 years information has become easily available, therefore skills like expertise and factual knowledge lost most of their value (except where deep expertise is required).
Those skills are now replaced with Critical Thinking. One doesn't need to use their brain for storing information, but instead for breaking down complex problems into small ...
3
It doesn't hurt your employability if you intend to work for a more creative dept. of a large corporation - this typically includes product design, bizdev, business intelligence, data analysis, data warehousing - all of which involve a significant level of creativity that can be obtained from a startup context.
All the above factors you listed are soft ...
2
Types of Options
There are only two types of options that you will get at a startup — an Incentive Stock Options (ISO) or a Nonqualified Stock Options (NSO). In IRS speak, an ISO is called a Statutory option while an NSO is called a Nonstatutory option.
Incentive Stock Options
These type of options can only be issued to employees. They have certain tax ...
2
You should bring in an accountant or attorney experienced in these matters if you don't feel comfortable doing them yourself. Giving them bad advice is worse than none at all.
If you want to maximize this person's value without having to pay them again and again for the same information, ask them to write something up for your employees. Use this as a ...
2
I would look at getting leads as an investment in your business.
If you have been operating long enough to know what your conversion rates are, you can do the maths. eg. If I spend $1000 on marketing, I will make $2000. Then it is an easy decision - find the money and outsource it to someone who knows what they are doing and can work within your budget.
...
2
Agree you shouldn't ask directly, but should be open to certain requests. Some employees may want over-time and others may prefer they do not. Allowing some flexibility in scheduling can provide opportunities for someone to work at a second job. The total amount of bonuses may not be as important as timing. Getting the holiday season bonus a little early may ...
2
Even the hardest-hearted employer knows that an employee's motivation and effectiveness will be affected by personal financial circumstances. So, for instance, offering employees access to qualified financial planning advice is a win-win. And employers who want to build a positive culture with loyal and valued staff will be ready to go further,
I would ...
2
This kind of question always makes me think of the t-shirt slogan WWJD (you know, What would Jesus do?) The answer is usually: "He wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!" Your projects always flop? Perhaps it is time to take a different approach. Start with an agreement. If you don't know how to do that, I would recommend that you read The Book of ...
2
I think it all boils down to the same community effect you are bringing to the table. You need to make it rewarding for them, if they don't feel 'privileged' for being able to do this then there is no emotional or social investment.
They need to feel empowered, above the rest of the 'mortals' its the reason the community moderators in forums works. Find a ...
2
I agree with Brian, with emphasis on "hiring the best people".
I'm not sure if you actually meant high turnover, instead of low turnover rate, but it's an interesting exercise. Let's dissect it.
First a high turnover rate I think is pretty obvious that it's expensive. A newly hired will need a certain amount of time to get up to speed and be productive. ...
2
You can approach this a couple of ways..
Either recruit enough volunteers to cope with the fact that they will vary in the time they commit, and as you appear to have found, tail off when they discover it's a thankless and somewhat tedious task.
Or maybe you can offer something tangible in return for their actions (Obviously this depends on how your site ...
2
I think the fact that you have volunteers right now is great, however, do not expect a "volunteer" to work a regular schedule or put too much time on this, unless you are offering some sort of "reward" for being consistent.
If your site is growing and getting some track, then hire a temp or intern to help you where the volunteers are not.
Good luck!
2
In short, no, my requirements haven't changed. For me, candidates need to:
be smart
get stuff done
have an aptitude for the intended role
fit well culturally into the work environment
be smart!
Whilst I'm a big fan of various online tools it hasn't changed any of my recruitment requirements one bit.
2
You said it. Most startup compensation is a mix of salary (cash) and equity (stock).
Very often, startups without funding can't pay any salary at all, so they offer significant stock to the first few "employees". Actually, most people agree that if you work for a startup for no salary, you should think of yourself as a co-founder.
In order to give stock, ...
2
One point of friction in the hiring process is going to be in establishing context about your work history.
For example, let's say you are a software engineer who has worked at amazon.com for the last five years. You don't have to spend a lot of time explaining what your employer does. It's likely that HR and interviewers already have some idea about ...
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