Unemployment Rate, Small Businesses and New Mobile Site

We'll actually lead-off with the last one in the subject line. Today more and more people are accessing the web via a smartphone and here at Astron Solutions, we understand the need to do so. So we've developed a new mobile site for you to use that should work very easily on your Blackberry, iPhone, Droid or other smartphone. Go to http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/?m=1 and you should have a nice, clean mobile site to use. Eventually, you should be able to just go to our regular blog address and access the mobile site but for right now, that address is the best one to use.

If you work for or own a small business, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that things will start to look brighter in 2011...but old problems will still remain: "Companies, helped by a loosening in the credit markets as well as improvements in consumer spending, are showing some interest in raising prices and hiring new employees. But most improvements are expected to be marginal, likely benefiting only the healthiest small businesses while the rest continue to struggle, relying on survival tactics adopted during the recession, such as deep discounts to lure customers and operating with fewer hands."

Also before you start cheering the "great" unemployment data from today (the largest drop in unemployment since 1998), read this Forbes article and realize that unemployment rate is always a flawed figure: "The big drop in the unemployment rate did not come from all of the new jobs created (which were largely in hospitality and health care, with 25,000 new bartenders and waitresses minted in December and 36,000 health professionals finding work) but simply from the erasure of unemployed people from the rolls."

Stay dry on this snowy Friday and have a great weekend!

Small Packages Doesn't Always Equal Good Things

Some say that good things come in small packages...but not all small packages are good things...

Take for example this beer from Heartland Brewery from last night where Jennifer--author of the very popular "What I'm Hearing" series on this blog--and I had dinner (with the salt and pepper shakers in the background as perspective)

Wow...

If you're looking for the HR tie-in, keep looking; this was off of the regular HR path...well...why not?

"Small business feel" is one way people often describe companies, especially in job descriptions, but while good things can come from small business (like Astron!), sometimes small business doesn't equate into good things (trust me, I've been there).

The HR Executive and the Election

We start off on this Wednesday smack in the middle of the convention cycle and with an article from Human Resource Executive Online saying to brace yourselves for whoever is elected president: click here

Human Resource Executive Online also wants to talk about where HR stands today and who Human Resources Executives want as president and why: click here

Next, the Business Ledger tells HR professionals how sloppy Human Resources adds to employers' benefit costs: click here

Human Resource Management Solutions by People Wise then asks when does a small business need an Employee Handbook: click here

The Courier Post Online follows up by saying that you should take time to think if job is lost: click here

The Hartford Courant ends our post with an article that tells us that sometimes, following your heart works: click here

Small Biz HR

On our Two-for-Tuesday we do you one better her at Astron's blog...

First from the Wall Street Journal, a New Year and a new plan for small business HR: click here

Next, from the Washington Post, word that Lockheed Martin will have to pay $2.5 million in a racial discrimination case: click here

Lastly, from HR Daily Advisor, advice on why firing must be a group decision: click here

Small Biz Healthcare Reform

First, from CNNMoney and Fortune Small Business, word that the Senate is considering small business healthcare reform: click here

From Business Week, an article about Asia's hunger for management talent: click here

Lastly, from the Wall Street Journal's CollegeJournal, a column in their On The Job section of when performance reviews don't meet potential: click here

Advising You

Sometimes people come to HR for advice, but where does HR turn?

One thing that Human Resources sometimes has to explain to employees are noncompete clauses in contracts, but few know much about them...the New York Times explains here: click here

Also from the New York Times, word about how small businesses get bigger and how they're getting help in New York: click here

Professional certification is an issue that Human Resources professionals should not only know about for people applying, but should know about for themselves to attain before looking for jobs according to the Providence Business News: click here