Employers and Employees

THE PROBLEMWhy are employers struggling so much to hire “good” employees? Regardless of the economy and regardless of the unemployment rate, Employers should never struggle to find “good” employees. As a matter of fact, employers should be able to find and hire “great” employees. Most employers just don’t understand what it takes to find “great” employees. I know what it takes and the exact reasons why employers struggle. Simply put: Employers are terrible at getting people to want to work. When I have the discussion about employers and employees, I usually put most of the blame on the employer. Just for the record, most of the time, employees are not without their share of the blame. THE FACTSLet start with a two facts:
Employers hire employees for a certain amount of money and expect a certain amount of work in return.
Employees take jobs with employers and expect to do a certain amount of work and get a certain amount of money in return.
Sound pretty easy, doesn’t it?THE TROUBLEIn the next two facts, is where the line starts to get fuzzy. Over the course of time the employer/employee relationship starts to change.
The employers have invested their resources up front to train employees, therefore the employers expect employees to get better at their jobs over the course of time, thus becoming more profitable to the company.
Since employees feel they were hired to do a certain amount of work and cost of living keeps going up, employees expect to be paid more and more each year for doing the same amount of work they were originally hired to do.
It is usually at this point where the train comes off of the tracks.The employer begins to feel that the employee is a pain and no longer has the business’ interests at heart. The employee feels that the employer doesn’t appreciate his loyalty for staying with company and always doing his job.THE EMPLOYERS’ SOLUTIONHere is how both the employer should handle the above differences. During the interview process or early on in the employment process the employer should state “We pay employees $8 per hour for the first 30 days, after that time we pay them what they are worth. If you are doing twice what we expect of you then you will be paid $16 per hour. If you are doing less than is expected you, you will be terminated. Sound Fair?” (If you live in a state where an employee can’t be simply terminated after 30 days you just inform them that they will never receive anything above $8 per hour for below average work. This means no raises, for any reason, ever!)This simple conversation will save everyone a lot of trouble. It sets the expectations up front for both parties. This conversation will highly discourage a “bad/lazy” employee from taking the job.THE EMPLOYEE’S SOLUTIONHere is how it looks if the shoe is on the other foot, if the employee is trying to figure out if this employer will be a good fit. Prior to taking the job, and perhaps in the second or final interview the employee should ask the following, “How do you determine future pay increases? Are they standard or merit based? Would you be opposed to paying someone twice as much if they were doing the work of two people?”The employee should expect a little shock and perhaps even a little irritation from the employer at these questions, but the potential employee can follow up by saying “I am not trying to be a pain, but I believe that employees should work as if they own the business. That means doing whatever it takes to make the company better.  I was just wondering how employees that work like that get compensated?”This simple conversation sets you apart from almost all other potential employees and it will also let you know if this is a place you want to hang your hat. You should be able to tell at this point what your future income potential will be. And whether you like the answers or not, you need to face the truth, before you take the job.HOW EMPLOYERS GET FROM THERE TO HERESo how does a business with an existing staff make the move to the above scenario? Before we get to that here is a quick example of a business I recently worked with. The business currently had 9 employees who were terrible at their jobs and had never increased the amount of work they could get done on a day in day out basis. The employer spent about $18,000 per year on each of these “bad” employees. I asked the employer, “Would you pay 3 people $54,000 per year if they could get the same amount of work done?” It really surprised me when the business owner took several minutes of thinking to come up with his answer “Maybe, it depends?” Are you kidding me? Does this employer really need to think about this? The employer would be getting rid of 6 complaining, show-up late, raise-wanting, insurance-costing, benefit-sucking employees for the ease of 3 people who would work 3 times as hard to make him money.This is clearly a case of an employer that doesn’t really know what he wants from an employee. Don’t you think that three $54,000 dollar per year employees would be of higher quality than nine minimum wage workers? If you have to think about that answer, you really didn’t understand the question.So back to the story, I responded to the employer with a polite version of my above rant. The employer agreed that the 3 employees would be a better formula for his business.THE NEGATIVE RESPONSESEvery time I talk about this some employer says something like “That would never work in my business, 3 people could never do the work of 9. My business doesn’t have any measure by which to judge employees and their amount of work.” They are basically all saying “My business is different!”Sorry to inform you. Your business is not different. You have customers, clients, prospects or patients. You have bills to pay, people to report to or a budget to control. Your business is not different and these techniques and the others I teach can be applied to your business.

Who Needs Health Care? Let Your Food Be Your Doctor

Despite the endless debates surrounding health care in America the fact still remains that the health care system in the United States is the most expensive in the world. Our citizenry pays far more per person for health care than any other nation on the planet. Sadly however, in comparison to all other developed countries, the U.S. ranks dead last in terms of the quality of health care according to a 2008 Commonwealth Fund Report. No doubt the health care debate will continue to be a source of turmoil and bad blood into the distant future and in this writer’s opinion, a colossal waste of time.Let Your Food Be Your Doctor”I submit that scientists have not yet explored the hidden possibilities of the innumerable seeds, leaves, and fruits for giving the fullest possible nutrition to mankind.” — Mahatma Gandhi”If doctors, with all their knowledge of the human body would merely become familiar with the principles of health and the simple Natural Laws that God established, and share them, they would be performing the greatest humanitarian service to mankind the world has ever known.” — Dr. George H. MalkmusIf you are still ignorant concerning the health benefits of whole, living, plant based foods it can only be that you have steadfastly refused to listen and learn, or you simply couldn’t care less about the issue. The last half century or so of nutritional research has conclusively proven that whole fresh plant foods have miraculous healing power. If however, you still stubbornly insist that this is not the case, then I challenge you to produce any true science that supports your greasy, high fat and cholesterol diet of meat, dairy, sugar, salt, refined carbs, artificial color and flavor additives, and preservatives.All non-biased research conclusively proves that the above referred to diet which is for all intents and purposes – THE AMERICAN DIET – is the main contributor to our country’s tremendously high rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, osteoporosis and many other grave infirmities. A plant based diet on the other hand has been shown to promote weight loss (good news for the fattest nation on earth), healing, anti-aging, and the restoration of youthful vitality.It is quite sad, as well as quite remarkable that the wealthiest, most advanced civilization on the planet should be the most backwards when it comes to all aspects of the optimum diet for humans. Our affluent nation can choose to eat anything we desire, and moreover, anything we choose to eat is by and large readily available for purchase 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How is it then that we as a society continue to make the exact wrong food choices 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?Despite all the evidence, we continue the unhealthy practice of eating our innocent animal friends and their by products and we continue to make the food industry and the medical establishment rich by our prolonged slavery to processed and refined food. The blood of multiplied billions of tortured animals cannot be washed off of our hands and the wage we receive for this mindless brutality is a national health care bill that is literally crippling our society.Your Body Is Desperate For Fiber And NutritionPlant based foods are loaded with fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants, while your animal based diet is completely void of fiber, antioxidants, and the majority of the most essential vitamins. Fiber is necessary for optimum digestive health, lower cholesterol, and a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. Fiber fills you up yet contains no fat, therefore it promotes healthy and rapid weight loss.Nutritional research is unanimous in their conclusions that people who consume the most high fiber, plant based, antioxidant rich foods are the healthiest. As a matter of fact you absolutely cannot make any substantial case for your diet being healthy unless it is predominantly high fiber and plant based. If however, you continue to stubbornly reject these scientific nutritional facts, you will with statistical certainty more than likely find yourself among the overwhelming number of Americans who will sooner than later be diagnosed with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or a host of other infirmities that continually cause a rise in our nation’s already high rate of diet related premature death.It is possible that a premature and violent death does not intimidate you, but while you are living your vanity prompts your desire to look your best at all times. If this is the case with you than a plant based diet is still your best nutritional choice. You can and will experience effortless weight loss, reduced signs of aging, and youthful vital energy by simply cutting animal products, and refined foods from your diet and opting instead for whole, fresh, hopefully organic plant foods. Moreover, you can significantly increase anti aging and optimum nutrition if a reasonable percentage of your plant based diet is eaten raw.If you, dear reader, have the desire to live a long healthy life and die peacefully in your sleep at a ripe old age, I assure you that it is imperative that you make a radical change in your eating habits. You are never to young nor to old to make positive changes in your diet. Your health is truly in your own hands and the best place to start is with informed, healthy food choices.Why not make a crucial change in your lifestyle and take control of your own health in the coming year? You don’t have to do it all at once and any positive choices you make will go a long way. Try incorporating a little more exercise into your daily routine even if it just means walking the few blocks to the market instead of driving. Drink more water and less soda pop. Get a little more fresh air and sunshine instead of watching re-runs of day time television. Begin to make the switch to predominately plant based foods and watch your body fat and excess pounds disappear as well as fine lines and wrinkles associated with your highly acidic diet. Enjoy a new found store of energy, happiness and well being. Your health is certainly in your own hands so why not make the choice to live disease free.Who needs health care? Let your food be your doctor!