Time Well Spent: How 100 Hours Learning Excel Macros Saved $42,000
What do you do when a task goes from ten hours per month to ten hours per week? Improve the process!
Hacking Quicken for Envelope Budgeting
One workable way to use standard home finance software to produce an envelope-based budget report.
Networking for Introverts: Because it’s not what you know; it’s who you know who knows you know what you know.
I drove 75 miles to the northside of Indianapolis on a bleak January day to have two meetings for the sole purpose of networking. One was one-on-one; one with a group of senior financial executives. Each meeting lasted about an Read More
Top Five Signs Your Job is Secure
The economy is doing well, unemployment is low, inflation is down….no worries, right? Riiiiight. In good times and bad, job security is often on our minds. If you are one of the estimated 78% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, job security Read More
Six Lessons Learned and Truths Remembered from an Eventful Year
I remember clearly the moment I realized it. Three weeks after being fired for the first time in my life, I had surpassed my longest vacation in 40 years; dating back to the newspaper route I took over at the age Read More
Unlimited Vacation: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The name might benefit from some tweaks but, if implemented well and honestly, unlimited vacation can be the secret sauce to great success and sustainable culture. Before you take the leap, consider the risks and rewards. The Good Unlimited Vacation Read More
3 Things to Say When an Employee Quits for Another Job
Employees leave for all manner of reasons; pay, working conditions, geography, a bad fit…the list is endless. Whether you are desperate to retain them or are giving yourself imaginary high-fives that you won’t have to fire them, there are three things Read More
Billing Rate Benchmarks: Why 2,080 Hours is 37% Too Many.
Intra- and Inter-company billing is common for shared services like IT, HR, and Accounting. If your billing and allocation rates are based on 2,080 hours, you are missing the mark by nearly 37%. In this post I will explain why Read More
Adventures in HR, #1
Several years ago my HR Administrator (Susan, who is awesome) and I met with several representatives of a PEO (Professional Employment Organization) to discuss outsourcing payroll and HR administration to them. One of the early topics of discussion was a Read More