Workplace issues include employment, electioneering
Where to find employees who will be comfortable in a small business environment is an ongoing concern. Keeping a lid on workplace political passions is an issue that comes up less often - but this is the season.
Here we go.
Employees who can fit. The unemployment rate in Illinois hit 7.3 percent in July - 7.5 percent in the collar counties, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. That's certainly not good news for those who'd rather be heading to work this morning; conversely, the news is better for small business owners looking to hire.
Bob Podgorski knows where you should look. In fact, he's in touch with 1,200 suburban job seekers - 86 percent of them in the professional-management-admin category - almost every day.
Podgorski coordinates the St. Hubert Job and Networking Ministry, a Hoffman Estates faith-based (which may or may not be your thing) organization that works through 25 additional churches of all types in the west and Northwest suburbs - from Village Presbyterian in Northbrook to Universalist Unitarian in Palatine.
As you might expect, services for job seekers and employers alike are free.
As you might not expect, Podgorski says that job seekers are genuinely interested in small business job opportunities - partly, he agrees, because there no longer is job security in a large company but partly because "People are willing to wear several hats. There's an excitement about doing several tasks rather than sitting in a cubicle."
How to keep political peace. With election talk heating up, Karen Codere says you probably don't want that heat in the workplace. Instead, she suggests, business owners should establish guidelines that allow employees to discuss the issues but also allow others to opt out.
Employees have a right to free expression, says Codere, a senior human resources specialist at Administaff's Rosemont office, but she adds that "The courts have said that you're allowed to have a workplace that's not political." The key is to have a "clear well-crafted policy of what's permitted."
Among Codere's suggestions:
Discussions during break time or in the lunch room may be OK, but discussions on the production floor may not be. "You're paying employees to work," Codere says
Campaign buttons and the like probably should be left at home, especially for customers who deal face-to-face with customers. A buyer who backs McCain, for example, may not appreciate your salesperson's Obama 08 button.
Remember that employees have a right to say, "I don't want to talk about (the election)."
Most employees "really get it," Codere says of workplace election rules. "They respect each other's views."
Personal note. Happy 14th, today, to daughter Tracey and son-in-law Rob Coleman.
Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@121MarketingResources.com