Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

March 3, 2009

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Microsoft Temps Are Mad as Hell and Ain't Gonna Take It

Like Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in Network, whose mantra was "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore," temp workers at Microsoft are Hades-like too as word leaked out that pay cuts are in the works for the temporary force. One temp from Volt has already set up a Web site to organize a "peaceful protest," maintaining that he and his coworkers all have contracts that must be hon...

March 2, 2009

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China Plays Its Prize Card(s) to Re-energize Its Economy

What is the Prize Card for China? Cheap labor, of course, and now that some 20,000 manufacturing firms have closed down in the past year, that means there are some 20 million migrant workers looking for jobs. And they're finding them--at lower wages. And the manufacturers are also getting generous export tax rebates. It also appears that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's comment about Chin...

February 27, 2009

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Airline Finds New Revenue Source in Tough Times: Pay Toilets

airlines pay toilets Ryanair

Ryanair, a low-cost, no-frills airline that serves Europe out of its Great Britain hub, is pondering a pound-sterling coinbox on its toilet doors. "One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound ($1.43) to spend a penny in future," CEO Michael O'Leary told BB...

February 26, 2009

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They Pay for the Honor to Work at McDonald's

foreign work experience McDonald's Thai college students

To be honest, I'd never heard of this phenomenon before, so I thought I'd better share it. It seems that young Thai university students pay $3,000 and up to come to the U.S. and work in a fast-food joint for the honor of listing "foreign work experience" on their resumes. Now, $3,000 in Thai current is a huge sum, but listen to Jiratchaya Intarakhumwong: "Honestly, if I had the money, I'd go b...

February 26, 2009

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Complying With Government Regulations the CD-ROM Way

emergency action plan employmee record-keeping fire prevention plan government forms

Personnel Concepts, according to those I've spoken with there recently, is making a big push to create interactive tools for companies to create documents and posters to comply with OSHA and other regulations. First to come out was the Fire Prevention Program CD-ROM. OSHA requires that every place of business create, print and distribute to every employee a fire prevention plan. This CD lets y...

February 24, 2009

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Some Unemployed Are Being Taken to the Bank

unemployed unemployment benefits unemployment insurance

NEWS ITEM: At least 30 states have contracted with banks to provide direct-deposit unemployment benefits, some of which come in the form of a debit card. This saves the states the cost of printing checks and mailing them. REALITY: Some banks are abusing the system by charging fees to use these unemployment debit cards. Try $20 for trying to "charge" too much on the card--an overdraft fee when ...

February 20, 2009

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First Skyscrapers, Now Carboard Boxes and Mini-Skirts

economic indicators skyscraper index

A week ago, I warned you about the skyscraper index: As more cloud-hugging buildings are built, the economy goes the other direction, down, in other words. Now, here are a couple of more useful, or maybe useless, indices. The first one is the cardboard box index, reportedly a favorite of ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, creator of no less than three recessions, including the current depression...

February 19, 2009

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A Trillion Here, a Trillion There, and Pretty Soon We're Talkin' Real Money

deficit financing federal budget federal deficit

The federal deficit for 2009 has already surged past the $1-trillion mark, supposedly for the first time in U.S. history, with the passage of the so-called stimulus plan optimistically named the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. But wait, the deficit for 2008, though officially announced as $455 billion, actually topped the trillion mark. How so? Because the feds simply counted m...

February 18, 2009

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Sleep Safely on Your Money; Forget Banks

banks money safes

A sign of the times, no doubt: A company is now marketing a bed with a safe under your pillow in which to stash your cash and a plasma television at feet's end for your viewing pleasure. Like Uncle Scrooge, you can now stay home all day and count your dough while watching your favorite satellite or cable offerings--or add a DVD player for further options. At $20,400, the Executive Safe-T Bed ...

February 17, 2009

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Millennials Sound a Bit Like All of Us

Millennials

A lot is being written, human resources- and management-wise, about so-called millennials in the workplace, millennials being those born between 1980 and 2000. One respected HR authority whom I routinely read, Susan Heathfield, even offers "Eleven Tips for Managing Millennials." First, however, she describes the traits of working millennials: "Millennials have a 'can-do' attitude about tasks...

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