The Watercooler

The Watercooler Blog is full of workplace tips and trends related to employee retention, engagement, interviewing and more. The Watercooler is frequently refilled, so gather ‘round often.

Start Hiring for the Future

Loyal employees are at the heart of successful companies. When people feel fulfilled in their jobs, they go above and beyond to help their organizations – and they tend to stay with them for the long term.How can you find long-serving talent that supports your ongoing mission and vision? The key lies in avoiding a [...] Read More

Rethink Your Hiring: Candidate Try-outs

When evaluating their hiring strategy, Automattic, the company behind WordPress, realized that a person’s effectiveness is best assessed through practical, on-the-job evaluation. Therefore, the company hosted “try-outs” for candidates where the person would be paid to work on a real project for a period of time – several weeks in many cases. This strategy proved [...] Read More

Don’t Conduct Your Next Interview Before Reading This!

Interviewing candidates requires preparation, knowledge of the job requirements, and careful question selection. However, for a hiring manager charged with conducting a last minute interview, a checklist of certain items can ensure a productive experience that achieves the main candidate assessment objectives.Lynda Bassett, a contributing writer for Monster, reminds the interviewer that candidates are evaluating [...] Read More

The ACA and Your Temp Workers: What Does this Mean for You?

With temp workers projected to make up over half of the entire workforce in the U.S. by 2020, it’s never too soon to start getting familiar with all of the legal requirements they entail. One major factor with temp workers is now the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – passed in 2014, it states that employers [...] Read More

Managing Employee Turnover in a Positive Way

Even the best employees resign. Regardless of your work environment or staff relationships, team members leave for reasons beyond your control. It may be a better opportunity, a return to school or a family relocation or commitment. Handled effectively, you can work through employee turnover so that the exiting individual knows they’ve added value and [...] Read More

How To: Create a Culture of Safety at Your Facility

A culture of safety refers to a system of common attitudes and practices within a workplace that place an emphasis on the importance of safety on a day-to-day basis. Workplaces that create a strong safety culture have been found to have a reduced likelihood of accidents, according to findings from the Occupational Safety and Health [...] Read More

Is Your Company Culture Something to be Proud Of?

Company culture – the embodiment of your core values, mission, vision, and objectives – should be a source of pride for everyone associated with an organization. The benefits of a healthy culture and work environment are critical to morale, profitability, and competitive success. In such a culture: Employees are fully engaged and highly productive. Operations [...] Read More

3 Perks to Offer Your Employees to Keep Them Focused and Committed

A study by Glassdoor revealed that only one in five employees considered perks such as a free lunch or casual dress as the most important benefit at work. Not surprisingly, 76 percent considered medical benefits or vacation and sick time more significant. However, employee perks can lift spirits and renew a sense of commitment. Some [...] Read More

3 Reasons New Employees Fail (And How to Avoid This)

Research has shown that 46 percent of employees fail within 18 months of starting a new job – and it’s not because they lack the necessary skills. During the hiring process, managers tend to focus too much on technical and educational requirements and not enough on interpersonal relationships and finding the right cultural fit. In [...] Read More