By Anastasia Warren, Marketing Director
It’s no secret that company initiatives can often get lost amid the demands of day-to-day work. Programs revolving around things such as company culture, wellness, or giving back can be easy to forget after the initial roll-out to employees.
So, how do we keep these important initiatives that feed our company’s success at the forefront of our employees’ minds?
1. Create a hashtag.
#Duh. In the age of social media and technology, it’s never a bad idea to create a hashtag specific to an initiative and encourage employees to use it. For example, we rolled out a volunteerism program in 2017 with the goal of giving back 360 hours of community service collectively to Reno and beyond. We created the hashtag #TACGivesBack as a fun way to encourage employee engagement and increase exposure.
Read more →
We Still Need Artists in the Workplace
/in RGJ Articles, /by Jim AnnisBy CEO Jim Annis
Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space, once said, “The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin … or even different parts of the same continuum, but rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity.”
At the August Governor’s Conference, one of the break outs included a gentleman who was touting all the engineering jobs coming into the workplace, and the need to keep up the emphasis on STEM (Science – Technology – Engineering – Math) education to keep the workforce supply with that skillset. During the discussion, a woman addressed the speaker and the audience with the following question, “what thought have you given as to how artists factor into this?” The man was stumped and said, “I have not given it any thought.” This is the disconnect that I hope to bridge with this article.
Read more →
What Did You Expect Us to Do?
/in RGJ Articles, /by Jim AnnisA Play in Two Acts by CEO Jim Annis
Cast of Characters
Older generation: Traditionalists, Boomers and GenXers who get upset with younger generations for being addicted to their devices (versus being workaholics like themselves).
Younger Generation: Gen Y and Gen Z who have been told to not play outside alone or talk to strangers, who are watched by helicopter parents through a tracking device and are socially isolated from true relationships while ironically always connected via social media.
Read more →
Moving at the Speed of Nevada
/in RGJ Articles, /by Jim AnnisBy CEO Jim Annis
The accolades are everywhere, “Reno is Starting to Look Like the Next Silicon Valley,” ‘Reno Places #9 in the Top 100 Best Places to Live,” and the list goes on. This is a speeding train. You decide whether you want a ticket to ride and then pay for it.
Backgrounder
Unemployment peaked at almost 14 percent in 2011, when Governor Brian Sandoval signed a law aiming to diversify the state’s economy. Great companies started moving in, then Tesla and Apple hit the radar and Reno took off full speed ahead. More names keep coming, Cascade Designs. Mary’s Gone Crackers and most recently PODS. I truly believe that Tesla and Apple get too much credit. Granted, they put us on the screens of the site selectors. In all honesty we were already an option for many relocations and big names, like Microsoft who were already here. Hopefully we will continue to attract companies that are more true community partners than PR hype.
Read more →
White Space versus Empty Space
/in RGJ Articles, Business, /by Jim AnnisBy CEO Jim Annis
There’s a new battle being waged for your time that will suck the life out of your innovation culture…if you let it. In past articles we have talked about the importance of white space to the six roles of the CEO (Strategist, Ambassador, Inventor, Coach, Investor and Student). Social media and online distractions have taken a chunk out of our white space to a point where we now have what I am calling “empty space.”
Read more →
Work Culture is like Diet and Exercise
/in RGJ Articles, /by Jim AnnisBy CEO Jim Annis
Company culture is probably the most written about and one of the most misunderstood subjects. The term refers to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle business transactions. Often implied, it develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the company hires.
Most importantly, culture takes commitment. What you do consistently every week defines your results and the health of your organization. You cannot eat a single apple and be healthy, but an apple a day has been shown to improve longevity. You cannot “fix it” in a day, just like you cannot “undo” heart damage from 50 years of unhealthy eating habits. We wish it were that simple. So what’s a company to do?
Read more →
Social media in the workplace
/in Uncategorized /by Celeste JohnsonBy Marketing Coordinator, Candice Vialpando
Are your employees allowed to use social media in the work place?
There’s no denying work environments have changed. Chitter chatter around the water cooler has died. Today’s working world involves likes, tweets, shares, comments, video calling and instant messaging. Numerous businesses grasp the advantage social media can have, however it is still a largely debated topic.
Read more →
How to keep up internal initiatives
/in Uncategorized /by Aaron DarkeBy Anastasia Warren, Marketing Director
It’s no secret that company initiatives can often get lost amid the demands of day-to-day work. Programs revolving around things such as company culture, wellness, or giving back can be easy to forget after the initial roll-out to employees.
So, how do we keep these important initiatives that feed our company’s success at the forefront of our employees’ minds?
1. Create a hashtag.
#Duh. In the age of social media and technology, it’s never a bad idea to create a hashtag specific to an initiative and encourage employees to use it. For example, we rolled out a volunteerism program in 2017 with the goal of giving back 360 hours of community service collectively to Reno and beyond. We created the hashtag #TACGivesBack as a fun way to encourage employee engagement and increase exposure.
Read more →
Staying Compliant: The New I-9
/in Uncategorized /by Aaron DarkeStaying compliant is a never ending task. Here’s the latest update in the HR and employment world:
A new Form I-9 will become mandatory on September 17, 2017. Make sure to note it contains very minor changes from the current I-9.
As an employer, you are obligated to provide proper Form I-9 training to the people who complete the Form I-9 on your behalf. Fines for a mistake on the I-9 can be very high.
Read more →
The State of the Workforce
/in Uncategorized /by Anastasia WarrenIt’s no secret that many things have changed in the Northern Nevada community. Along with new companies coming in, housing costs on the up and up, and the rise of entrepreneurship – the workforce and their demands are changing as well.
We saw an almost $2 per hour wage increase in the span of mid-2015 to late-2016.
This is substantial.
Read more →
Selecting the right employee for conference attendance
/in Uncategorized /by Jim AnnisBy CEO Jim Annis
Conference attendee selection might be agonizing at your organization because 1) everyone wants to go, or; 2) it’s just the opposite and you resort to drawing straws and the short one is sent off. Budgets are tight, you’ve set goals as to what you want to accomplish and you want the most out of your resources — financial and human. What do you do? Work backwards. The secret is to have enough managerial insight to envision that ideal attendee’s behavior pre-, during and post-conference. Select someone who just gets giddy over the end result that you want and the expectations set forth. Here’s how to picture them:
Read more →