I Advice - Business

Finding Your Way Through Career Change
Do you want to be more excited about your work? Instead, are you dissatisfied with your job and feel stuck and/or frustrated? Often, people are unable to move forward because they don't know what they want to change. That's where the ADESA model comes in. The ADESA Model can help you build skills and experiences that will ensure your long term career success and satisfaction. This model offers a specialized process that will help you* Discover and make use of your natural talents, skills, and strengths* Find top interests and career motivations* Make sound career decisions* Change your career field, workplace, or job* Transition to self-employmentThrough the career transition process using this model, you will also become more aware of your own answers to some pretty big questions such as:Who are you?Why do you want to work?What do you want to do?Where do you want to do it?Introducing the ADESA Model:Assess, Differentiate, Explore, Scribe, AchieveHow it works, step by step:Step 1: Assess: Find clarity regarding your core needs, talents, interests, and motivations.This essentially means you need to take the time to get to know yourself, get a handle on what you're good at, what you like to do, and what you really want. Assessments give you a way to organize, identify patterns, and discuss what you know about yourself, so you can relate this self-awareness to workplace possibilities. While these benefits are extremely useful in the career transition process, it's important to emphasize that care

e planning
• Reward management
• Retention management
• Employee feedback
• Performance management, etc

We know the evaluation and measurement of human capital is difficult and that it’s an evolving science, but for most Finance Directors, understanding the performance of their human capital investments is extremely weak compared to their understanding of any other asset in their business.

Many finance professionals see people as an operating cost, not as a source of value creation. They also then treat all expenditure on human capital as a cost to be minimised, as opposed to a cost that can be optimised. Without the measures and links, however, it is hard to know how to do the latter and who in the business is responsible for that: HR; Finance; or both?

There is also a difference between internal and external reporting. Increasingly, externally a company will be assessed on the basis of the amount of information it can provide about its internal labour market and how well that market serves its business objectives. External human capital reporting required of organisations today is still limited and is largely narrative, but this may well change.

The real challenge is how to move along the continuum, using HR analytics, to deliver a picture of how human capital investments create business value. To move from generating HR information, to reporting human capital and then measuring that asset, so it can be managed.

What does this mean to Ceridian clients? Our Vision is that “Everything we do is focused on increasing the value of an organisation’s human capital and enabling HR to deliver real business impact.”

The scenarios outlined previously represent a real opportunity and a real challenge for Ceridian. As an HR service provider we are dealing with HR and Finance professionals who are struggling with the issue of human capital in their own organisations. We therefore have an opportunity to create a value-add proposition that moves us out of the‘efficiency’ box of a classic outsourcer, i.e. just being cheaper, and into the effectiveness box, i.e. that we add value to our clients’ business.To do this we need to create tools for HR and Finance in order to allow them to understand their human capital strengths and weaknesses, and then develop solutions to increase the value of their h

How to Make an Interesting Promotional Postcards
Postcards became one of the most important forms of communication that is widely used at present. Businesses consider them to be one of the top most promotional materials used because you can easily hand them out to your prospects no matter how far they are from you.Postcards are essential tools that can be widely used for advertisements, business reply, coupon cards, invitations and greeting cards. Because of its valuable usage businesses had efficiently worked out to make the best of the cards.With the great innovations made in the printing technology, different means had been brought up in order to come up with interesting promotional postcards.1.Personalization or custom printing.When we talk about custom printing, we mean personalizing your cards. With this process you can create a design that is based on your own artwork and bring unique prints that will stand out. The design that you make will reflect the personality of your business. The advantage of having your cards done through custom printing is that you are able to create unique designs that will serve as your brand identity in the market.2.Apply brilliant colors and attractive inksIt is often said that colors are the best ways of grabbing your client’s attention. For, it essentially works out to make your material look more attractive and alive. The brilliant colors that you use must be in appropriate with the marketing proposal you are about to make. Stunning and brilliant colors can surely wake up the interest of your target audience.3.Provide informative contentThe he

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What is Human Capital?
Human capital is just one of an organisation’s intangible assets. It is basically all of the competencies and commitment of the people within an organisation i.e. their skills, experience, potential and capacity. Other examples of intangible assets include: brand, software, design, working methods and customer relationships. The human capital asset captures all the people oriented capabilities we need for a business to be successful.

It’s important to remember, however, that individuals are only an asset insofar as they choose to invest their human capital in an organisation.

Some people find the term Human Capital somewhat mechanistic, but human capital is not about describing people as economic units, rather it is a way of viewing people as critical contributors to an organisation’s success. This then throws the spotlight on how businesses invest in their human capital asset, in order for it to add value. For any commercial organisation, this is an important component to understand. If a company understands how its human capital contributes to their business success, it can then be measured and managed more effectively.

Human capital management is a reciprocal relationship between supply and demand: employees, contractors and consultants invest their own human capital into business enterprises and the business enterprises need to manage the supplier. Any organisation interested in its performance will naturally ask how well they are managing this asset to ensure maximum return on their investment. In the same way, all employees, contractors, consultants and providers of human capital want to ensure they are getting the appropriate return for their own human capital investing through salary, bonuses, benefits, and so on. Understanding how and why people add value or not to an organisation is an important, and difficult, management skill for the 21st century.

Why is Human Capital an increasingly important issue?
Human capital has never been more critical to competitiveness, because the world has changed. Over the last 15 years we have witnessed a revolution in the workforce, as well as in the workplace.

The Workplace
Increasingly the developed world has evolved into a service and information economy. In an information economy, people are the critical asset and in a service economy many more outputs are intangible, as much as 80 per cent of a company’s worth is now tied to its people. Access to financial capital is no longer a source of competitive advantage; our competitiveness increasingly derives from know-how, or people’s abilities, skills and competence. People, the human capital asset, with the right profile and capability provide an advantage, which is not easily replicated by competitors.

The Workforce
At the same time, the labour force has also changed dramatically. Organisations know they need people to deliver value in new and different ways, and that those people they depend on have changed. For example, we see an aging, more diverse population, with more women entering the workforce, more dual-earner couples. However businesses can still struggle with a general shortage of the skills required in a service and information economy.

The war for talent in the human capital market place means businesses can’t take for granted that individuals will want to invest their own human capital in an organisation. Elements, other than traditional pay and job security, need to be put in place to attract and retain top talent.

These changes have culminated to ensure that human capital is becoming a major driver for organisational performance. Forty-six per cent of Chief Executives say that finding good people and keeping them is their single biggest worry and most fear their employees are ill-equipped in terms of skills. The investment community is now probing human capital issues, yet most Chief Finance Officers say they have only a moderate understanding of the returns they get from what is often their largest single investment – people. Human capital then is a critical contributor to competitive advantage.

What is the challenge for organisations?
Human capital may well now be the most critical source of competitive advantage, but it is also the most difficult to measure. If people are a company’s greatest asset, how do we quantify the value of this asset?

The phrase ‘our people are our greatest asset’ has become a tired clich? around which real cynicism has justifiably been created. The cynicism is based on the gap between what a business says and what it does. If an organisation can’t prove that its people are its greatest asset, then it isn’t being measured and it can’t really be managed. The quantifiable evaluation of human capital is a challenge and there is currently no accepted way of doing this. There is no single measure, independent of context, which can describe the impact of employee competencies and commitment on business performance. There are reliable methods for measuring the return on investment on physical capital, but not for human capital; it’s a new and evolving science.

Causality is the issue; it is very difficult to prove links between ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ in a complex working and social environment. Assigning causality is a challenge because a business context is a very different social environment, e.g. is customer satisfaction really improved because employee retention has improved, or is it because that business invested in better technology and improved their product? Is an organisation getting discretionary effort from its people because they have been allowed flexible working, or because they are being paid more than competitors’ offers, or even a mixture of both? Correlations are not the same as causality either. The challenge for most organisations is that if the value of human capital can’t be quantified, where and how do they make the best investment in their asset, and how do they know what the return on that investment will be?

What does this mean for HR?
The pressure on HR functions to perform is greater than ever because of the critical role human capital plays in an organisation’s wealth, success and competitiveness today. If the role of HR is to optimise ‘people performance’ then businesses need to ask what ‘good’ HR looks like for their organisation.

Increasingly it’s understood that a good HR function can add significant value and make a real contribution to an organisation’s performance, however looking at HR through a human capital lens puts further demands on the function. HR needs to make causal connections clear between their practices and business value. This means moving from describing good HR practice to proving it.

For decades HR has wanted greater legitimacy for their role; often without a seat at the top table. With human capital now being such a source of competitive advantage, the door is open for HR to bring to the table the value they have for many years been espousing. But how do they do this?

The HR paradigm shift
If we accept human capital is one of the key assets driving creation of value, then HR is not a cost centre but an asset provider. It is a function that enables businesses to manage people better than other companies, but to prove this, HR needs to change its approach quite fundamentally.

Most HR functions are on this route, in some form or other, already:

• Moving from efficiency to effectiveness
• Moving from cost to value-add
• Moving from inputs to outputs
• Moving from data collection to data analysis
• Moving from traditional HR data to linking it to operational performance

Having this intelligence informs our answer to the question of what HR should be doing in order to deliver business impact.

Linking HR practice and individual or organisational performance is therefore at the heart of what HR needs to do so it can identify how HR policies translate into performance. As a minimum, HR should have reliable data in conventional areas, such as churn, absence, labour costs, time and costs of recruiting, etc but they must also have access to performance measures, such as production figures, sales targets, service level agreements and be able to make links between the two.

Increasing the capability of HR to deliver more commercially will be the key to demonstrating how HR can really add value to an organisation.

What does this mean for Finance Directors and the CEO?
The gap between a company’s tangible assets and its stock market value is growing. For many businesses the tangible assets on the balance sheet represent a small part of their stock market valuation or the value to a potential acquirer. In most organisations, reporting and evaluation of human capital is non-existent. As the world has changed and human capital has become more critical to competitiveness, it has exposed the limitations of traditional accounting practices in being able to identify the real value-adding components of an organisation. The issue is, if we don’t know how to measure intangible assets, how do we know whether to invest, or how much?

How do we link investment in the following areas to business performance?

• Induction
• Skills and technical training
• Management training
• Organisational roles
• Process design
• Workforce planning
• Reward management
• Retention management
• Employee feedback
• Performance management, etc

The Adventures of Wolley Segap -- Hot Stuff
It was one of those hot August nights. The type Neil Diamond used to write about in the sixties. Sweltering and breezeless, it came creeping into the house like a heat stroke. The air conditioner had been out of commission since this morning, and the afternoon sun was baking me, even while I sat in my boxer shorts in the kitchen. I had checked all the usual suspects; the thermostat, the fuses, the air filter and the coils. But I had an inactive system that just sat there in utter silence. The interior temperature was climbing at an alarming rate and I was wilting under the pressure.The trip through the pages of the local phone directory had prove fruitless. The assortment of large ads with photos of service trucks proclaiming “Immediate Service,” A/C Specialists,” and Heating & Cooling Pros” left me cold, or was it hot? I was so exhausted, I could even think straight anymore. The perspiration was pouring off me like a continuous shower and even the curtains were drooping.I could swear I saw steam coming off the countertop, but it was actually a gently mist or fog. And out of that vapor appeared a strange, book-shaped, character that stood on spindly feet and made me jump a foot in the air. Before I could say a word, he, or was it a she, smiled and said, “I’m here to help. Take a peek inside,” and “it” opened itself up to reveal a large Yellow Page ad. The headline read, “We Have Servicemen in Your Neighbor Every Hour.” I couldn’t believe my blurry, bloodshot eyes. I made a leap past the apparition to clutch the phone and promptly dialed the number. Seconds later, I was told a

sset and in a service economy many more outputs are intangible, as much as 80 per cent of a company’s worth is now tied to its people. Access to financial capital is no longer a source of competitive advantage; our competitiveness increasingly derives from know-how, or people’s abilities, skills and competence. People, the human capital asset, with the right profile and capability provide an advantage, which is not easily replicated by competitors.

Most HR functions are on this route, in some form or other, already:

Having this intelligence informs our answer to the question of what HR should be doing in order to deliver business impact.

Increasing the capability of HR to deliver more commercially will be the key to demonstrating how HR can really add value to an organisation.

How do we link investment in the following areas to business performance?

How to Define a Business
Businesses are everywhere. They are the units that perform most of the economic activity in our economy. Most businesses exist to generate a profit. There are some businesses that exist to perform a function other than profit, such as cooperatives and non-profit organisations. The traditional definition of a business is an entity that brings together time, effort and capital in order to produce a profit.There are many different ways of classifying businesses but here are the main types: Manufacturer. These take raw materials and make finished products, which they then sell. They make a physical good such as a car or a sofa. Service businesses do not produce a physical product but offer a service to consumers. They make a profit by charging for their skills and labour. Retailers and distributors. These businesses facilitate the chain of supply. They buy goods from the producers or wholesalers and sell them on to consumers at a higher price. Agriculture and mining. These businesses are also known as extraction industries as they make their profit by taking raw materials out of the ground. Forestry, fishing and coal mining would be in this group. Financial businesses include banks, insurance companies and investment funds. They offer financial services to consumers and other businesses and generate a profit by managing capital for others. Utilities are companies that provide vital public services like heat, electricity, gas, water and sewage treatment. Real estate is the business of buying, selling and

being measured and it can’t really be managed. The quantifiable evaluation of human capital is a challenge and there is currently no accepted way of doing this. There is no single measure, independent of context, which can describe the impact of employee competencies and commitment on business performance. There are reliable methods for measuring the return on investment on physical capital, but not for human capital; it’s a new and evolving science.

Most HR functions are on this route, in some form or other, already:

Having this intelligence informs our answer to the question of what HR should be doing in order to deliver business impact.

Increasing the capability of HR to deliver more commercially will be the key to demonstrating how HR can really add value to an organisation.

How do we link investment in the following areas to business performance?

You Have A New Innovation And Find Someone Else Already Thought Of It
Many times someone will have a good idea for a new business or innovation, perhaps an invention then as they do research they realize someone else already thought of it and in fact are already selling it. But they never heard of it until they checked on the Internet to see. But you must ask yourself why didn’t they know about it; well, probably because who ever is doing it is not marketing their product of service very well.Recently a business-marketing student came up with a new innovation for the carwash sector. To recycle the waste wash-water and recycle and reuse it for landscaping, pressure washing the property and even flushing the toilets. Paul Chavis, our brilliant and out side the box thinker then after seeing such systems already existed she stated; “But I guess it really has been thought of already.”Paula, well indeed it has, as it is an excellent application of course. But being first to market is a positive factor in a business, but it is not necessarily as important as you might think in business. For instance read this:http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?s=71308611d13a40cb6cb4e8d6dc524201&showtopic=597In my business career I have been first to market several times and also have taken market share rather easily being tenth to market, but executing the marketing plan better. You do not have to be first to market to win market share in a competitive business environment so please remember this lesson. Consider all this in

Most HR functions are on this route, in some form or other, already:

Having this intelligence informs our answer to the question of what HR should be doing in order to deliver business impact.

Increasing the capability of HR to deliver more commercially will be the key to demonstrating how HR can really add value to an organisation.

How do we link investment in the following areas to business performance?

Tupperware Fundraiser Catalog
Tupperware fundraisers provide non-profit groups with an unusual, durable product for raising money for a project. Tupperware fundraisers are not to be confused with Tupperware parties. No party is used for a Tupperware fundraiser. Instead, products are offered in the usual fundraiser manner, with fundraiser coordination done by a Tupperware consultant.Thinking back to the last fundraiser you had, you may have memories of cookies or candy bars, chocolates or pizza. Maybe you tried to sell cookie dough or honey. Whatever your customers ordered is long since gone and forgotten. It may have tasted good, or it may not. Either way, it was a consumable.Tupperware fundraisers are not like that. These fundraisers offer durable products – products that are not available at the local supermarket.Tupperware Fundraiser CatalogTupperware fundraiser catalogs are different from the company's normal catalogs. Many items in the Tupperware fundraiser catalog are new and exciting.The Tupperware fundraiser catalog itself is an exclusive catalog for nonprofit groups, such as schools, that want to use a Tupperware fundraiser. It is not available to those who shop Tupperware online or attend a party. The Tupperware fundraiser catalog currently (circa 2007) offers 65 different items. Most items are available only through a Tupperware fundraiser.Since the aim of your Tupperware fundraiser is to sell to as many customers as possible, Tupperware fundraiser catalogs offer a wide variety of practical, innovative products. They offer a wide range of prices, too, so that

e planning
• Reward management
• Retention management
• Employee feedback
• Performance management, etc

Ceridian will create a simple, pragmatic tool that is also academically robust to demonstrate our capability, credentials and leadership in this field. The model will be innovative and a differentiator that positions us as human capital specialists, helping HR become more commercial.

This also means that Ceridian will be ‘practising what we preach’, opening our doors with pride to clients and prospects in terms of our own human capital reporting, analysis and management. It will also be imperative that we work with foundation clients to build compelling case studies of the evidential links between human capital and business value. It also means that for every one of our solutions, human capital management and interventions will be linked to ROI.

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Electronic fund transfers is an innovative technique used to transfer money between concerned parties. This is relatively secure and efficient system that supports electronic payments and collections via electronic signals transmitted by wire. Electronic fund transfers eliminate the physical exchange of money and provides prompt service. For these transactions to be valid, people need to follow EFT payment instructions.

Private investigators are people who undertake investigations on behalf of private individuals not involved in any governmental organization. Private eyes usually do work outside of governmental institutions and are not associated with working for any government agency.

Don't let anyone talk you into going to college when all you really want to do is be a chef or tear apart a car engine.Some times our society pushes the wrong thing on us. You have to say no way! If you really want to learn a trade instead of college, just do it.

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