Entries by Tom Branson

Get The Most Out Of A Conference: Part 2

To get the most out of a conference, you need to have objectives, a plan to meet those objectives, and a system for processing and organizing the information you receive. These items should all be completed before you go to the conference. All your planning and upfront work provides a foundation for success, but like […]

Get The Most Out Of A Conference: Part 1

It’s conference season! Time to throw off the shackles of your desk environment and go to a place where everybody knows your name (because it’s printed on your lanyard) and they’re always glad you came (because you paid out the nose for it). Maybe you’ll be attending pre-conference workshops, cocktail hours, dinners, and concerts. Or […]

Healthy Working From Home: Part 2

If you work from home, your friends have likely told you how lucky you are, or how they wish they could work at home too. Their minds immediately go to the benefits of working from home. They overlook the challenges of working remotely. In the first part of this blog series, I wrote how remote […]

Starstruck Behind The Tech Curve

A professional who seeks to lead in any industry will constantly look for ways to increase productivity and efficiency. The past decade has offered businesses countless ways to improve with the introduction of new technologies. Businesses that invested early (and wisely) in new technology were rewarded with a competitive advantage over those that lagged behind. […]

Healthy Working From Home: Part 1

Working from home can be a fantastic benefit. You avoid stressful commutes. There’s no need to pack a lunch or get all dressed up. For that matter, you really don’t even need to change out of your pajamas. You can just roll out of bed and get to work. However, the convenience of working at […]

Nonprofit Employee Retention

In a recent survey of nonprofit leaders conducted by GuideStar and Nonprofit HR, approximately 56% of respondents named their top staffing challenge as either “finding qualified staff,” or “hiring qualified staff.” Employee retention was considered a top challenge by only 13% of those surveyed. This is curious, considering that the voluntary turnover rate for nonprofits […]

Lack of Leadership

HR is into acronyms. Whether self-created, representative of the latest certifications or handed down by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDL), HR professionals swim in a sea of acronyms. So as SMS texting language emerged over the last decade, HR was better prepared than most. However, there is one acronym that HR simply cannot (and […]

Are Employers Required To Provide Time Off To Vote?

The U.S. Presidential Election is heating up–honestly, it’s a firestorm already. Tuesday, November 8, 2016 is the culmination of 18 months of primary and general election campaigning. And as with every election, the candidates, political parties, and special interest groups will all be pushing for strong voter turnout as that date nears. Free, fair, and […]