Category: Small Business
Steer around roadblocks to vehicle deductions
The tax law generally limits the annual amount you can deduct for depreciation of so-called “luxury cars.” Strategy: Buy a heavy-duty sports utility vehicle (SUV) for business use in 2012. If the vehicle meets certain requirements, you can ...
Is etiquette dead? Mind employees’ manners
More corporate training departments are turning into pseudo charm schools. They’re sending employees to business etiquette classes (or hiring personal coaches) to put polish on everything from business correspondence and conversational skills to personal hygiene. At stake: ...
- Business Etiquette | Workplace Communication
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Sexual harassment victims deserve to have their claims investigated, not ignored. Under no circumstances should you encourage a complaining employee to quit instead of having to endure continued harassment. That’s a sure indication to many juries that the ...
- Discrimination and Harassment
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Coping with toxic co-workers
You know the types: the co-worker who seeps negativity and hostility; the gossip-monger; or the critic, who always nitpicks others’ work. So, what happens when you have several in one workplace? In some cases, a toxic work environment ...
- Centerpiece | Workplace Communication | Workplace Conflict
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Creating PowerPoint custom layouts
PowerPoint Slide Masters are the best way to change the general appearance of your presentations without changing each slide. But what if you’re always tweaking a particular slide to fit your contents? Instead of doing this each time, create a ...
- Office Technology | PowerPoint Tricks
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No state law on break time: What does FLSA say?
Q. I don’t think our state has any rules on meal or break times for hourly workers. Does federal law require us to give breaks?
- Compensation and Benefits
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Bounce back from a bad performance review
Question: This is my first job after graduation, and I have already received a warning letter from my boss. I work in a very small business, which is owned by a husband and wife. I am the only person who ...
- Your Office Coach
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Speed up an answer to your voice mail
Research shows that people take longer to reply to voice messages than other types of communication. Even getting a voice message heard is a challenge. So what can you do to ensure that people respond to a message you leave ...
- Office Communication | Workplace Communication
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If you pay women and men different rates for the doing the same work, you had better have a good reason—one that can stand up in court. Otherwise, you’ll probably wind up on the losing end of an ...
- Compensation and Benefits | Discrimination and Harassment
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4 ways to destroy an employee’s day
What makes an employee productive? Unproductive? “The key factor you can use to make employees miserable on the job is to simply keep them from making progress in meaningful work,” say researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer.
- Centerpiece | Leaders & Managers | People Management
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