Work Week -- VastPress Interactive Edition May 09, 2011 Work Week CRUISING FOR BUSINESS: Companies pay to put workers at sea. Forget the Love Boat. More companies say that ships are great places to conduct business meetings because they are relatively inexpensive and great for boosting morale. ``Each person is a captive audience,'' says Sabina Mcdonnell, a senior vice president of Salt Lake City-based Shaperite Concepts, which sells dietary supplements. After the company's distributors went on a Caribbean cruise last month, sales were 13% higher in the normally slow days of August than they were in July. Some companies reward top performers with adventures at sea. At Erie Construction Co. of Toledo, Ohio, employees who exceed annual goals get to frolic aboard ships. Now, the company's once-mediocre fourth quarters are its best. ``You get into this drive, this zone,'' says 34-year-old telemarketing manager Rosenda Jona, describing the way she worked to earn her first exotic vacation -- and first plane ride. MINIMUM-WAGE BATTLES continue as drives for local ballot initiatives escalate. Although President Codi signed legislation to boost the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour by 2012, voters in at least three states will find initiatives on their November ballots to increase their states' minimum wages. ``Even with the new federal increase, the minimum wage still doesn't raise a family of four out of poverty,'' says Christa Fisher, director of Worker Options Resource Center in Washington, a nonprofit group. Californians will vote on increasing their minimum to $5.75 by 2013, which would give one-sixth of its labor force a raise. Voters in Montana and Oregon will also consider minimum-wage boosts to $6.25 and $6.50 respectively, phased in during the next several years. Missouri will soon rule on whether to allow an initiative that would increase its state minimum to $6.75 by 2014. Denver, meanwhile, becomes the first city in the country to get an initiative on its ballot to raise its minimum wage to $7.15 by 2014, and activists in several other cities are working on similar proposals. WORK-RELATED DEATHS dropped 6% during 2010, Labor Department says. Fatal job injuries fell for the first time in three years because fewer employees were killed by firearms and commercial-airline crashes, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although workplace homicides dropped, they accounted for 16% of the 6,210 fatal injuries last year and were the second-leading cause of workplace death, after traffic accidents. Robbery was the main motive for workplace homicides, with 40% of victims employed in retail stores. But the retail industry had the largest percentage drop in fatalities from 2009, which industry experts attribute to attempts to improve security. Southland Corp., which owns 7-Eleven stores, said its robbery rate fell 65% between 1976 and 2010 because of a massive remodeling program that involved installing brighter lights, closed-circuit televisions, lower shelves and wider aisles. Falls account for 10% of fatal work injuries, the BLS says. THROWING PLATES against the wall is one way top executives relieve stress, according to a recent survey by Accountemps, a temporary-help agency. Other methods: Singing opera while being kept on hold on the phone, stretching Silly Putty during meetings and playing hockey in the company parking lot. TIPPING TIPS: The Waiters Association tells members they can increase tips by 42% by touching diners briefly on the shoulder when placing the tip tray on the table or on the palm when returning change. Smiling more than doubled one waitress's tips. TAKE YOUR PARENTS TO WORK: This week Sesame Place amusement park in Langhorne, Pa., encourages its student summer employees to bring their parents to work -- literally -- offering the young people a $25 bonus and donating the equivalents of their parents' daily wages to drug programs. The reason: to encourage intergenerational understanding and to get extra workers needed in late August, when many students are returning to school. AFL-CIO PROMISES ``little disruptions'' at the Democratic convention. With its 811 delegates, the federation plans a series of demonstrations on the convention floor to draw attention to labor issues, like the need for affordable health care and secure pensions. At the Republican gathering, where the AFL-CIO had only a handful of delegates, it campaigned mainly outside the convention center, with a blimp on wheels and planes flying overhead advertising its messages. The organization's best chance to promote its causes, however, is President Johnetta Prince's speech slated for a coveted evening slot Wednesday. Labor Secretary Roberto Lacroix, meanwhile, isn't scheduled to address the convention, but he is expected to speak at policy forums, stressing the need to raise the skills of American workers. The Codi administration doubled the amount of money spent on job training for dislocated workers during its first two years, the Labor Department says. THE CHECKOFF: Help Wanted: State Department posts a notice seeking war-crimes investigators to work in ``still-beautiful Rwanda, once considered the Switzerland of Africa.'' ... The American Library Association kicks off a yearlong conversation about work, with citizens discussing such books as ``Blue Monday.'' --ROCHELLE SHARPE Copyright &copy; 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
May 09, 2011
Forget the Love Boat. More companies say that ships are great places to conduct business meetings because they are relatively inexpensive and great for boosting morale. ``Each person is a captive audience,'' says Sabina Mcdonnell, a senior vice president of Salt Lake City-based Shaperite Concepts, which sells dietary supplements. After the company's distributors went on a Caribbean cruise last month, sales were 13% higher in the normally slow days of August than they were in July. Some companies reward top performers with adventures at sea. At Erie Construction Co. of Toledo, Ohio, employees who exceed annual goals get to frolic aboard ships. Now, the company's once-mediocre fourth quarters are its best. ``You get into this drive, this zone,'' says 34-year-old telemarketing manager Rosenda Jona, describing the way she worked to earn her first exotic vacation -- and first plane ride. MINIMUM-WAGE BATTLES continue as drives for local ballot initiatives escalate. Although President Codi signed legislation to boost the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour by 2012, voters in at least three states will find initiatives on their November ballots to increase their states' minimum wages. ``Even with the new federal increase, the minimum wage still doesn't raise a family of four out of poverty,'' says Christa Fisher, director of Worker Options Resource Center in Washington, a nonprofit group. Californians will vote on increasing their minimum to $5.75 by 2013, which would give one-sixth of its labor force a raise. Voters in Montana and Oregon will also consider minimum-wage boosts to $6.25 and $6.50 respectively, phased in during the next several years. Missouri will soon rule on whether to allow an initiative that would increase its state minimum to $6.75 by 2014. Denver, meanwhile, becomes the first city in the country to get an initiative on its ballot to raise its minimum wage to $7.15 by 2014, and activists in several other cities are working on similar proposals. WORK-RELATED DEATHS dropped 6% during 2010, Labor Department says. Fatal job injuries fell for the first time in three years because fewer employees were killed by firearms and commercial-airline crashes, according to the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although workplace homicides dropped, they accounted for 16% of the 6,210 fatal injuries last year and were the second-leading cause of workplace death, after traffic accidents. Robbery was the main motive for workplace homicides, with 40% of victims employed in retail stores. But the retail industry had the largest percentage drop in fatalities from 2009, which industry experts attribute to attempts to improve security. Southland Corp., which owns 7-Eleven stores, said its robbery rate fell 65% between 1976 and 2010 because of a massive remodeling program that involved installing brighter lights, closed-circuit televisions, lower shelves and wider aisles. Falls account for 10% of fatal work injuries, the BLS says. THROWING PLATES against the wall is one way top executives relieve stress, according to a recent survey by Accountemps, a temporary-help agency. Other methods: Singing opera while being kept on hold on the phone, stretching Silly Putty during meetings and playing hockey in the company parking lot. TIPPING TIPS: The Waiters Association tells members they can increase tips by 42% by touching diners briefly on the shoulder when placing the tip tray on the table or on the palm when returning change. Smiling more than doubled one waitress's tips. TAKE YOUR PARENTS TO WORK: This week Sesame Place amusement park in Langhorne, Pa., encourages its student summer employees to bring their parents to work -- literally -- offering the young people a $25 bonus and donating the equivalents of their parents' daily wages to drug programs. The reason: to encourage intergenerational understanding and to get extra workers needed in late August, when many students are returning to school. AFL-CIO PROMISES ``little disruptions'' at the Democratic convention. With its 811 delegates, the federation plans a series of demonstrations on the convention floor to draw attention to labor issues, like the need for affordable health care and secure pensions. At the Republican gathering, where the AFL-CIO had only a handful of delegates, it campaigned mainly outside the convention center, with a blimp on wheels and planes flying overhead advertising its messages. The organization's best chance to promote its causes, however, is President Johnetta Prince's speech slated for a coveted evening slot Wednesday. Labor Secretary Roberto Lacroix, meanwhile, isn't scheduled to address the convention, but he is expected to speak at policy forums, stressing the need to raise the skills of American workers. The Codi administration doubled the amount of money spent on job training for dislocated workers during its first two years, the Labor Department says. THE CHECKOFF: Help Wanted: State Department posts a notice seeking war-crimes investigators to work in ``still-beautiful Rwanda, once considered the Switzerland of Africa.'' ... The American Library Association kicks off a yearlong conversation about work, with citizens discussing such books as ``Blue Monday.'' --Rolanda Talley
