2016-05-09 HR : Would Employees Want to Read a Newsletter?

HR Wordle_0
HUMAN RESOURCES
  1. Information about how to do my job better or in less time.
  2. Inspiration for health, appetite, safety or home improvements.
  3. Management updates on what’s new with my company.
  4. Spotlights on employees (recognition, graduations, births, guest speakers, etc.)
  5. Ideas for discussion topics on areas of concern.
  • Cost versus value.  Is it tangible?
  • Reputation, impression, awareness, communication.
  • Resources, sources, I/O, feedback.
  • Impact studies, circulation, distribution, promotion.
  • Requests, suggestions, rewards, awards and competition.

This is an outline of an article on creating, designing and discussing an employee newsletter.

2016-05-09 Win 10 Installed

Everything works better and start up and shut down is fantastically fast. However, from mid March until today I have NOT BEEN ON THE INTERNET. So, I can’t wait to see how long my updates take and how many of them there are. I can confirm that Win 10 (another upgrade from Win 7) went as smoothly, though they were struck with a bad virus in the early days of working on it and we had to work to get the virus off.  Hours and hours of AVAST repair.  It is working, though we discovered old hard disk with errors and I have this feeling that this is a common occurrence.  I recommend copy all of your most precious data files (movies, photos and books), to an external hard drive (we use passport) so if the worst happens (tornado, flood, etc.) you can carry them in your bug out bag.

2015-12-23 Fitness Bracelet Battles?

What does the war between Garmin’s Vivosmart HR and Fitbit Charge HR have to do with HR? Nothing, except it came up in my search for the latest HR news, oops.  Therefore, I categorized this under Health AND Human Resources. Part of the function of the Human Resources HR is to work on the wellness of the employees. I am personally interested, though I do not need another device, I think it is cool and would like to ‘challenge’ my family and coworkers.  I am ‘guessimating’ my exercise now.  I like the idea of people challenging themselves to better health.

https://www.cio.com/article/3016790/mobile-apps/battle-of-the-fitness-bands-garmin-vivosmart-hr-vs-fitbit-charge-hr.html

Updated 06/11/2016: This last March I ended up purchasing the UnderArmour Wristband for tracking my exercise, sleep, heart rate and activity.  I am really glad I did, because I am much better at getting up off my feet and staying healthier because I “keep moving”. [The message appears and the wrist band vibrates whenever I remain still for 60 minutes. How cool is that?!]

https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ua-band

2015-11-10 Human Resources Software Back In Demand

Maybe you don’t need the full package, but as a systems analyst, I’m betting that there are some activities in your company that are resource hogs of people, time or materials.  Many of the ‘old school’ thoughts are that doing tasks more efficiently means that employees will be sitting around with nothing to do. In reality, you choose the procedures, software and communication activities to improve and you can reduce overtime, increase accuracy and GENERATE more business. You can more utilize your employee(s) time and give them a morale boost in the bargain.  What if they spent their break time coming up with ideas that could help grow your business?  What difference would it make to your production if the employees could easily contribution those ideas?  How many times have you heard the comment that company ABC did not get the business because they could not gear up to efficiently handle the increased workload?  Whether it means hiring more staff, working in more locations or dealing with a new set of vendors –taking on profitable projects add to the workload in unforeseen ways. Smoothing out the bottle necks and getting processes fine tuned to handle the workload effectively can keep your company a fun place to work.

Related Article in Entrepreneur Magazine

2015-11-10 Chromebook for Christmas

I got a great deal on a Samsung Chromebook (through Amazon).  Merry Christmas to me.

Updated 2015-12-23

I got a new chromebook with my christmas money and I love it.  The battery last longer, the usb ports are easier to get to and it is a little faster.  All the settings/apps and everything from my old chromebook (google+) account is exactly the same.  I set up another account on the old one and voila I am in business again with out a hiccup.  The problem is that everyone else I know is so used to windows world, where they sit and wait and wait and wait, that they do not want to use the old one.  Well, there is a bit of a learning curve.  It’s so great to be able to turn it on and seconds later be on the internet and not have to worry about security and updates so much.  Don’t get me wrong, updates do happen but they are so not intrusive, I barely even notice.  All my ‘data’ is on the cloud or on flash drives that I swap in and out.  I am planning to update my Win7 desktop early next year, to Win 10.  I am enjoying the peace of having a nice holiday with out UPDATE headaches.

2015-08-08 Hard To Find The Time

Motivating employees takes time and interest.  Still, once you start the ball rolling, it will get easier and take less time.  I liked the article listed below for a beginning.  This is a good introduction and I think it is important to communicate this goal company-wide.  Motivation comes from the environment we work in, our personal lives and each other and it can be encouraging to share your ups and downs.  Yes, I know what you’re thinking.  I don’t want to get personal with the people I work with.  You don’t have to.  However, if you read something interesting, something not controversial, not threatening, and, hopefully, in line with something your employees need to know, you should SHARE. You can reinforce local news items, health and recipes.  There is a simple idea that sharing items prompts others to consider their health and well-being, it makes them think, and that act alone reduces the stress employees feel.  In fact, the more they realize that you have been thinking about them, the better they feel, especially when they are performing tasks that aren’t necessarily that fun.  Yes, let’s face it the fact that even the best of companies and the best of jobs has many aspects to it that aren’t very fun to do.  Helping others develop coping skills means giving them something else to think about.  Try to choose something simple that they can do to make the job, the day, or the task go a little smoother.

Start here: https://www.wikihow.com/Motivate-Your-Employees and then ask for comments.  Keeping your employees and yourself on track, staying positive and asking for feedback will get you started. Remember, this is not an easy task, but it is worthwhile and, in the long run, working on this every day can make a big difference.

2015-08-08 Win 10 Update

I had a conversation with Lenovo today and I will get Windows 10 for my “desktop” machine soon! Finally found a way to get an answer quickly, without having to search around the manufacturer’s website. Bravo, Lenovo!


*** D: Thank you for choosing Lenovo Chat.

*** D: Good morning, ***!

****D: How are you today?

*****H: You’re welcome. I have Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p with Win 7 downgraded from Win 8.1. I want to run Win 10? Will I be able to?

**** D: yes

*****H: Ok! Should I wait for notification from Lenovo or check with Microsoft?

*** D: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

****H: Thanks for your help. I love my machine.

2015-03-09 eBook Basics

I am working on ‘beta’ test of ebook using html5 and converting to epub format using Calibre. Sound easy? Yesterday I spent around 5 hours working on Chapter graphics using InspirARTion to make “sign” [symbols] for words in international sign language, that I placed on the “eye” of an animal for the character. Sounds strange, I realize, but if you are looking for unique representations, hey, I got that! Today I am adding links to the text for single rope techniques and rescue litters for the story. I hope to finish early next month so I can get my editors (family members) to review the text. The application will build a baseline for epublication of ‘our’ writings. It is fun, entertaining and hopefully profitable at some point. Ironically, I am going to need a little income if I am to pay for health care coverage in my old age. This life is not anywhere near what I thought it would be like. I was hoping for less complicated when I got older. Alas, it is not to be. Still, it is healthier to have goals and keep working towards them. Is the kindle format of ‘epub’ the most popular of the ebook formats? I do not know, but I like the HTML editor in Calibre. As soon as I get some $, I will make a donation to them. Calibre is a good ebook management system. P.S. I also used google slides to put together images with drawings and create my book *.png(s). It was fun once I got the hang of it. Check out this example.EagleEye

2015-01-20 New Year Updates

Good news!  I have finished backups, then successfully installed QB 2015 desktop version and ArtRage 4.5 for Win7. (Win 8 downgraded.)  All updates and backups (after) and tested software and we are good to go.  However, upgrading network put us back a bit.  The network connection goes up and down (between 3 and 4 or 4 and 5 bars) and is getting stuck.  I believe we are going to have to optimize the channels again.  This is goofy to continue to have to do this, but our neighborhood is crowded.  And since we have repeaters (boosters) we have to set all devices on one channel to get it the LAN to perform consistently instead of allowing auto channel selection based on performance.  I do not know what channel the technician actually set it too, but I do remember having this issue last time.  Mmmmh, well, you would think that I would get better at this, but, no. Fortunately, I do take notes.  Maybe I will get to it tomorrow.  I will stay in the now for a while and be glad that at least we are still connected!  I am looking forward to new QB which looks really different.  As for ArtRage, it seems to be more responsive, but virtually the same.  I start working (drawing) in other words playing and I will be there for hours, ha!

2014-09-02 Cloud Printer

I have the software loaded on my PC and my Win7 PC scans and prints okay, but when I went to use the Cloud Print feature for my (our) devices: “Oh, my …”  There are many security issues to deal with, especially dealing with photos and I do not want to “share” my pics, though we are all fully clothed.  I am studying the instructions carefully.  Didn’t it used to be simpler?  Does anyone really understand how to use the cloud?  Time for another adventure, lol.

[Question: Why take the time when you can make do without?  Will the convenience be worth the risk in the long run?  Still working on the answers.  In the meantime, copy to flash drive and voila – printing without risks.]