The usual feedback from employees who have served a company for quite a number of years is usually feedback with regards to the workload and the compensation package that they are getting. Majority would respond with a certain dissatisfaction tone, some growing impatient, having served a company for some time and yet not getting any retribution or improvements as far as their efforts and contributions to the company are concerned.

This is a common thing. More often, employees would rant for raises, additional benefits to offset their work burden. While some can be pacified and made to see, that all of these will be dependent on the performance of the company as a whole, promises made by the company to allow these people to understand the situation and actually see where such bonuses will come from do not impose such a problem. For the immature employees, they would not care and keep on complaining despite explanations and negotiations given to them. In most cases, such employees are not enticed to stay and left to decide on their fate.

Organizations are aware of such manpower issues, and definitely most companies would not resort to preventing employees from getting better opportunities with other companies once they feel that they are being under utilized. Patient people are duly rewarded, but for people who simply want to try the fast lane to career growth, the world has a lot to offer them, and they are surely welcome to undertake them, if they see it a better outlook for them.

I’ve noticed that there are basically two types of managers - those who mentor and those who don’t. I couldn’t think of a reason not to mentor a promising person, so I did an unofficial survey and these are the responses I got:

* I don’t have time. Mentoring does take some time, but to me its well worth it. You’re helping someone develop skills that you may just need to rely on in the future.

* If I mentor employees, they might leave. Frankly, I think that if you don’t mentor capable employees, they’ll leave anyway. They’ll be frustrated or feel like there are no interesting challenges in their current position. I’d rather have them leave with a positive attitude and new skills.

* If I mentor someone, he might end up getting my job. If you’re good at what you do, the employee you mentor should get your job - after you’re promoted.

And then there was the manager who told me that every one of the employees she supervised were severely lacking in skills and were not worthy of her mentorship. Actually, a lot of mentors look for employees with a great attitude. Skills can be taught. Attitudes are hard to change.

One of the most obvious roads towards success and advancement in the career ladder is how a person enjoys the actual job and the different undertakings he is able to undertake to be able to expand his knowledge and use them to be beneficial towards a company.

Leaning on stock knowledge alone is not enough for people who are not content on where they are at the moment. To advance, the will, ambition and the vision to improve current systems, workflows and work relationships are all key factors in making such job responsibilities meaningful and important. This is something that most employees do not realize, their importance and the level to which their contributions are most needed. While this should not be used as leverage against a company, they should also realize that organizations would not hesitate to re-invest in new faces to fill the position, especially jobs that require expertise that can easily be studied given a couple of months to do so.

Here are some Job Advancement Strategies to ponder on.

Among the requirements of most companies for all applicants is the fine line that says “should be a team player�. Ideally, this is normal for jobs relating towards customer service work, sales work and operations. Overall, this pertains to how a person can be able to adapt to the total manpower of a company, how he or she would fit in and relate to them in a way where there is a harmonious working relationship for better operational results.

The presence of people who many would not be able to get along with is only natural. These are people who have their own beliefs and principles and rarely can anyone change them into something that they should be. While there are some who successfully shift and change for the better, there are also some who refuse to change and would fight for what they believe in. Well, naturally, this would be something that would pose a problem among working employees. But to cross the line and go head on with your superiors is like committing suicide.

The verdict? Well, obviously he will be terminated and with the various inputs coming from his different co-workers, there is no recourse but to part ways with this person. Despite issued memorandums, it seems there is no hope for people like this. The work performance can easily be identified as far as enjoying and being more productive. Sad to say, all of these are academic and seen by the superior themselves.

It is never easy to terminate an employee. But to cross the boss is certainly something that would make it easier. Here is an article that emphasizes how hard it is to terminate employees.

Based on the discussion that went on for one of our previous postings on how to quit your job right, I’m interested in how big of a motivational factor a poor work environment is to entrepreneurs.

Personally, my I didn’t start working for myself as a result of personality friction, but rather as a need for further personal growth.

So, an open question:

What is the strongest factor driving you to start your own business

Alternatively, what keeps you from doing so?

When tempers reach their boiling points, people are normally expected to blurt out different sweet nothings to people. But for a manager to do this towards employees such as rank and file people, they should note that doing this in front of customers is not a good sign and may become harmful to the total image of a company.

Some people would not be able to help it. Is it a show of power to impress the nearby people? Whichever the case maybe, it is not a good site to see. The best way is to call on the employee and talk to them in a closed door meeting and then scold them, reprimand or anything that they may want to say, and not in front of customers. Letting emotions get the better of people, especially the empowered and placed managerial people should be put in check. Besides, subordinates are also people, and being humiliated in public does not necessarily follow that they are always creating an impression of being superior over their staff. It totally damages the entire morale of the operations and especially for people who request for service or purchase a product as a whole.

Here are some good techniques to control Anger Management Scenarios.

Do you wish you could be sure that your dream career is right for you before you quit the job that is currently paying the bills? If so, you may want to take a look at today’s Business Week Small Business article:

The idea is relatively simple. Participants pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand (transportation, lodging, etc., aren’t included) to experience life as, say, a chocolatier, a fashion designer, or a race-car driver. The time spent immersed in their fantasy job allows them to get a 360-degree perspective without the risk of quitting their own jobs or investing heavily in a new career.

Brian Kurth’s Vocation Vacations business sounds like the perfect way to make sure that your dream job is really as good as it seems without any risks.

Into every life a little rain must fall. Even in the best run business, eventually you will get an unhappy client, be they internal or external.

One of the key’s to managing unhappy people is recognizing that you only see the end of the process. Before the client comes to you, they have to be getting mad enough to make a complaint. This can take anywhere from several minutes to a number of days. So, they will be completely unpatient and unreasonable with regard to giving you the time you need to resolve their complaint. What’s the solution?

Give them a definate number. Say “I will contact you in 1 day. If I don’t have an answer for you then, I will be able to say WHY I don’t have an answer, and how much longer it should take to get one.”

What this does is it acknowledges their complaint. Sometimes, simply guaranteeing to a person that you are actually listening to them is enough to give you the time you need to resolve their complaint. Then, if you keep the timeframe that you promised, you’re well along the road to converting a complaining client into a satisfied customer. Break that timeframe and you’ve lost almost any hope of conversion.

So, the key first step is to listen and acknowledge them. Don’t let people get lost in the voicemail or the email jungle. Respond quickly to acknowledge that you have received their complaint, and then work to resolve it if possible.

One of the greatest challenges continuously facing business people is hiring, and that will only get worse as retirement of baby boomers increase and skilled talent becomes even more rare.

Instead of investing more time and money in the search for employees, a new strategy can be even more valuable.

Here’s an article with an interesting strategy in it.

Click Here

Adding yet another useful online product offering to their suite, the folks at Google have recently launched “Google Calendar”.

Considering my satisfaction with Gmail, their earlier email offering, I’m definitely going to be checking it out.

Here’s a link to their overview.