Trader Joe’s is a popular and growing specialty grocery chain, with locations scattered from California to Rhode Island, Wisconsin to Arizona. Part of the store’s success is its company culture which landed it on Fortune magazine’s list of best places to work. Trader Joe’s believes that happy employees make customers happy, and happy customers spend more money and come back more often.

Here are some ways Trader Joe’s works to make employees happy:

• At Trader Joe’s, employee are valued, not expendable. They treat employees like they want their employees to treat customers.
• Opportunities are offered to everyone. Managers are promoted from within.
• Training is extensive, and each employee learns about the specialty products in detail. They believe it makes their work more interesting, and helps them stick around longer than the average grocery store employee. Employees need to know what is expected of them, and Trader Joe’s has that covered.
• While the number of employees in the store at any time may be few, in keeping with Trader Joe’s low-overhead approach, they are paid well. The company pays employees an average of $21 per hour, with health insurance and retirement benefits.
• A cross-training environment means that job descriptions are not strictly followed, and store managers often work side-by-side with cashiers to restock shelves or sweep floors.
• The collaborative, informal working environment allows crew members the freedom to be themselves and make their own decisions.
• The company focuses on finding highly motivated people with a knack for customer service and a passion for food. Working with other highly motivated people is a real perk for everyone.

Trader Joe’s believes that your people are your brand. They trust their employees to make decisions and treat them with respect. They ask for and take employees’ contributions seriously. And they pay them well.

All of this employee goodwill creates loyal crew members who grow with the company. And customers can see the differences between Trader Joe’s and other grocery stores. Some call shopping there like being part of a club, and think it’s a cool place to work.

Many companies would love to hear their customers say things like this!

Leaders vary in their styles and how they motivate employees to perform at their best. But good leaders have commonalities that help everyone around them. All business owners and managers can learn from the great leaders, who typically utilize the following traits to be effective:

1. Confidence: No matter how you go about boosting yours, confidence is an essential trait that every leader needs. If you’re not confident in your abilities, no one else will be. Being confident doesn’t mean being arrogant or knowing the answer to every question. It does mean knowing what you don’t know and being willing to find out the answers.
2. Curiosity: Finding out who you really are and learning more about your team members are important aspects of becoming confident. Knowing your strengths and those of your direct reports makes everyone more efficient.
3. Focus: Great leaders know where they are going. They are focused on the goal and how to achieve it.
4. Listening Skills: Just as focus on a goal helps you achieve it, listening to people moves everyone toward the objective. People who don’t feel heard will soon tune you out. No matter what rank or level a person is, giving them your full attention will make you soar in their eyes.
5. Integrity: It should go without saying that leaders do what they say they’ll do with honesty, so people can count on them and trust in their words. Lack of integrity will sink a leader quickly—and has no place in any reputable company.
6. Engagement: The ability to engage an entire team is a sign of a great business leader. By challenging your people, seeking their ideas and recognizing their contributions, you’ll have then engaged and motivated to help achieve the goal.
7. Communication: Being a good communicator means being open to sharing both good and bad news, talking about your vision and hopes for your team and your company, and instills trust. It also fosters communication back to you, which all leaders need from their teams.
8. Support: Foster a positive environment that helps your teams flourish. Letting people know you truly care can motivate them more than money.
9. Collaborate: Ask for ideas and help from your team members, both the best and those who may struggle more. Collaboration makes people feel valued and encourages them to do better.
10. Celebrate: Let people know you’re proud of their accomplishments. Celebrating successes helps relive stress that today’s competitive environment can bring, and helps recharge workers’ batteries.

Whether you’re a business owner, project manager or team leader, you owe it to your people to work on strengthening your leadership skills. Not only will your team feel happier at work, but they will be more productive and may even stick around longer!

Believe it or not, your employees might be blaming you—or your company, or their jobs—for the problems they’re having at home. And what’s more, when they feel that work or the boss is a burden in their lives, it could cause big problems.

It’s important that employers care about what or whom their employees blame when they have family problems. The associated anger and frustration often leads to negative workplace behaviors, such as missed work, low productivity and employee theft.

Instead of being hit with a problem you never saw coming, try being more proactive with your employees’ workplace satisfaction. Here are a few tips to get you started, which could pay off in a big way!

Schedule in advance: Last-minute meetings and must-attend work events cause stress for families, especially when schedules are already so tight. Encourage everyone to put in for vacation time far in advance so planning is easier on spouses and partners. Try to avoid last-minute meetings and don’t require employees to attend every single work-related event.

Listen and empathize: Create a company culture that cares. If an employee is having trouble balancing work and family obligations, don’t disregard them or the importance of finding a solution. Employees who feel heard and understood will appreciate and remember it—and may even be more inclined to volunteer for extra duty when they can. In any event, they’re likely to be more productive and happier on the job.

Don’t discriminate: Whatever you do, don’t assume that only women have family needs to attend to. Just as many men blame work issues for family conflicts, and employees of both genders want to attend their kids’ softball games, school plays and ballet recitals. Be mindful that employees who are not parents have other obligations, too. Don’t expect them to always be available or to pick up the slack when parents run out the door to make it home in time for homework help. Be respectful of all employees and the unique family needs they each have.

When you’ve gone to the trouble of advertising and recruiting, then interviewing, screening, hiring and training a new employee, you want to make the most of your investment. Integrating new hires into your company is a skill and takes some effort. But making them feel welcome and acquainting with your culture can make the process much more successful.

Here are 5 tips for successfully integrating new employees:

1. Communicate ahead of time. You wouldn’t have a party without telling your guests what to bring and where to park, would you? Do the same for a new employee. Send an email a week ahead of their start date with information regarding dress requirements, parking, stashing personal items, obtaining lunch onsite or nearby, and any other niceties you can think of.
2. Be prepared. There is nothing worse than a new employee showing up for his or her first day and finding out that no one was expecting them. The least you can do for a new hire is to be prepared! Whoever did the hiring should greet the new person upon arrival. Have all the required paperwork ready to fill out. Show them around and introduce them to co-workers as you go.
3. Tell them what to expect. Outline a new employee’s first day, and then give them a schedule for the first week. Knowing what to expect will help them prepare for and meet your expectations.
4. Consider putting the new hire right to work. If you hired them, you probably need the help, correct? Give your new employee a chance to work their new job for an hour or two on heir first day. Most people are excited to go to work—especially if they’ve been unemployed during this long recession. Why not start their training right away?
5. Provide a mentor or buddy, if appropriate. Ask long-term employees who are open to meeting and helping new hires to watch out for the new guy or gal. Help them learn where the coffee supplies are hidden. Take them for a walk at lunch to learn the neighborhood. Share the company values, mission and culture in a relaxed way. Mentors can be quite valuable during a new hire’s orientation!

Integrating new hires is a one-time-only opportunity. Done well, it can lead to a more successful relationship with your employees; missing the mark can lead to higher turnover as new staff feel frustrated, unsure of their role or just unwelcome.

Winter is a tough time for businesses in many parts of the country. Extreme weather causes shutdowns, customers stay home and employees can’t always get to work—all of which contributes to losses in productivity, revenue and profits.

Should Employees Be Penalized For Staying Home in the Snow?
What should employers do when employees can’t get to work? Should they be lenient, knowing that safety comes first? Or should they require employees to work, no matter what the weather is doing? And what about employees with kids, who have to stay home when schools are out for bad weather?

Creating and implementing an extreme weather policy makes things easier for everyone. Employees know exactly what they should do, and you don’t have to come up with solutions while the snow is still piling up.

5 Extreme Weather Tips for Employers:

1. Realize that employers must assume some level of care for employees. Forcing them to come to work in dangerous conditions could subject your company to liability if someone is injured or causes injury to others. Besides, do you want to be the type of employer that makes an employee feel they have no alternative other than traveling to work or risking termination?
2. Be the leader your staff wants you to be. They will likely be looking to you for direction, so keep an eye on the weather, and communicate. Keep your cell phone on and be available to employees with questions.
3. Make things flexible. If an employee needs extra time to get to work safely, or would prefer to work at home and stay off the roads, try to accommodate their needs. If snow is piling up during the work day, allow employees extra time to get home before dark, when possible. Add a provision in your policy for employees who can work at home to do so. Productivity could suffer, but it’s better than getting none at all.
4. Be consistent. It’s not easy to make different accommodations for different employees; to allow some, but not others, to work from home; and to decide who gets paid and who does not. Try to be fair and consistent in your policies to avoid any legal battles with employees.
5. If you pay employees who aren’t able to get to work, it’s reasonable to ask them to make up the time. Otherwise, you can offer that they take vacation time or unpaid leave and not worry about making up the hours they miss.

Even when snow and ice lead to driving problems, it is up to your employees to get to work or communicate their difficulty in doing so. But everyone appreciates a boss who tries to help and makes reasonable accommodations.

Employers have weathered the economic storm in a variety of ways. Some have replaced laid-off workers with independent contractors, usually known as “consultants,” or “freelancers.” The advantages to employers are many: no payroll taxes, social security or benefits to pay. And, no guilt when it’s time to end the contract—freelancers are used to short-term employment! Independent contractors can be the answer to one of an employer’s biggest headache—payroll.

The downside is when that invisible line is crossed and an employer misclassifies an employee as an independent contractor. Whether it is done intentionally or not, the IRS does not like missing out on revenue it is owed.

And since deficits are so high, those misclassifying employees will be a target of the additional 100 agents the IRS is hiring for fiscal year 2011. Random audits of 6,000 businesses over the next three years is planned.

How to Determine Whether a Worker is an Employee or Independent Contractor
According to the IRS, it’s a matter of degrees of control and independence in the following three categories:

• Behavior: Do you control what the worker does and how they do their job?
• Financial: Do you control the financial aspects of the worker’s job, such as when they are paid and who provides and pays for tools, supplies, etc.?
• Type of Relationship: Is there a written contract? Are there benefits provided to the worker? Is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

There are no real guidelines to help employers determine whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. The IRS recommends businesses weigh all these factors and acknowledges that factors that are relevant in one situation may not be relevant in others. The keys, the IRS says, are to “look at the entire relationship, consider the degree or extent of the right to control, and document each of the factors used” in making the determination.

If the determination cannot be made, either party may file a Form SS-8 and the IRS will review the form and officially determine the worker’s status.

I was once presented a job offer that included the usual items: salary, health benefits and number of paid vacation days. But the smart businesswoman I would come to work for included a few extras. She itemized the yearly value of my health insurance package, the amount of Social Security Taxes the company would pay on my behalf and the contributions the company would make to the state worker’s compensation fund.

The salary number was great—but seeing the real numbers behind the perks (mandated or not) really opened my eyes to the value of this company bringing me into their employ. Value to me; cost to them.

Years later, when I had my own company and was hiring my own employees, I used this same tactic. Whether it impressed my staff as much as it did me, I don’t know. But I, too, wanted my employees to how hiring them would put more money in their pocket than their net paycheck might indicate.

If your employees are unaware of the real cost of their employment—and the real contribution you as an employer are providing to their well-being and their future—remember, there’s no law against telling them.

6 Benefits Your Employees May not See

1. Vacation: How much is their paid time off worth? Two weeks and a half-dozen or so paid holidays can add up to thousands of dollars. Your staff might think they’re owed paid vacation (and of course everyone deserves time off), but it is still a hit to the company’s bottom line.
2. Social Security and Medicare: This is a big one. Do your employees realize that you contribute up to $6,621 per year to their future Social Security earnings? And 1.45% of their earnings to Medicare, with no cap? Chances are they do not. Informing them of this fact might just make them appreciate you someday!
3. Unemployment: When an employee is laid off, the first thing they usually do (after sleeping in) is file a claim for unemployment benefits. Do they realize that you, the employer, is obligated to pay into this fund? Probably not.
4. Worker’s Compensation: Just as your company makes unemployment contributions on its employees’ behalf, they might not know that worker’s comp is also available to them because of employer-paid premiums. All they know is that they can file a claim when they’re injured and collect the payments.
5. Retirement plans: Whether it’s through profit sharing or contributions to a 401K, a company-paid retirement plan is free money in your employees’ pockets. They should understand that it’s optional and generous.
6. Health Insurance: It might seem obvious, but seeing the dollar value of a year’s worth of paid health insurance premiums can really open an employee’s eyes to the sacrifice employers make to do the right thing.

Disclosing to your employees the true cost of bringing them into your company can be a good thing, when handled correctly. In my case, my employer made me feel very fortunate to be hired, and communicated a real commitment to her employees. Making an employee feel like a burden is the wrong approach.

When that nervous job applicant walks into your office, it’s not enough to just ask questions and take notes. There are so many personality quirks, body language giveaways and clues to a candidate’s skills or lack thereof that you could be missing. Taking stock of a potential employee’s complete package is a better way to evaluate a good fit for your company.

Six Other Things to Look for in Job Candidates

Do they pay attention to the little things? We’ve heard of flawlessly-produced resumes followed by a thank-you email full of errors and misspellings. Or a cover letter addressed to the wrong company. A telephone message returned more than 48 hours later. Even of candidates parking in a handicapped space. Lack of attention to these details is an indicator of things to come.

Are they polite? An HR manager we once knew followed every interview with a quick walk through the company’s offices, asking receptionists and others who had contact with the candidate how they were treated. She often heard that an applicant who was exceedingly polite to her was surly to the staff.

Are they engaged? Showing an interest in the position duties, the company culture, the department, and the person they’ll report to are good signs. An interviewee who has absolutely nothing to say when asked if they have any questions is either unprepared or uninterested.

How are their phone manners? Telephone interviews are more common these days. While not as formal as an in-person interview, serious candidates will take them seriously. That means no taking calls at a party or the mall, no laying in bed for the call, and definitely no munching, crunching, drinking or smoking.

Do they follow instructions? Do you offer interviews to candidates who do not provide a cover letter, even though your advertisement asks for one? Then why are you surprised when they become employees who do not follow instructions properly?

Are they on time? This is a no-brainer. Unless there was an accident or other unavoidable circumstances, there is no excuse for being late to an interview.   Conversely, it’s rude to show up for an interview more than 10 minutes early. Candidates who are too late or too early think their time is more important than yours.

When you pay attention to a job applicant’s complete package, you may find the real truth about whether or not you should hire them. And don’t forget to conduct thorough pre-employment screening for background information you need to make the right hiring decision.

Preventing violence against employees is an employer’s responsibility—and not one to be taken lightly. Being aware of the risks and taking steps to make your company a safe workplace are the first steps in a successful violence prevention policy.

Seven Warning Signs Of Potentially Violent Behavior

1. Threats: either direct or veiled threats of harm
2. Aggressive or inappropriate actions: Intimidating, belligerent, harassing and bullying behavior
3. Weapons: Bringing one to the workplace or inappropriate references to or a fascination with weapons
4. References to workplace violence: agreeing with violence as a solution to a problem, fascination with incidents of workplace violence, or identifying with perpetrators of workplace homicides
5. Indications of desperation to the point of contemplating suicide: over finances, family problems, or other personal problems
6. Drug and or alcohol abuse
7. Extreme changes in behavior

These signs differ from broader examples such as a worker who has experienced the ending of a relationship, or one who has been to counseling. Those are not indicators of workplace violence any more than are broad age-group (men in their 40s) or physical descriptions (wears black clothing).

Rather, the seven behaviors above are not to be ignored—they are clear signs that something is wrong. Identifitying and dealing with an employee who exhibits these behaviors may help prevent workplace violence. Depending on the behavior, the solutions can range from immediate police intervention to disciplinary action or referral to professional help.

Providing employees with a company policy on workplace violence tells them that management takes it seriously and that their reports of threats or unusual behavior will be dealt with. Failing to provide a policy, take reports seriously and deal with threats means employers will fail at preventing violence as well as instilling trust.

Employees must be trained in how to recognize signs of violent behavior and encouraged to report it. Emergency procedures should be practiced so that all staff members know what to do in the event of an incident.

Management can take advantage of training to learn how to take disciplinary actions and diffuse anger, as well as handling crisis situations. Most important, management must ensure that appropriate pre-employment screening is conducted on every employee. Knowing whether the candidate you’re about to bring into the workplace has a history of arrests, criminal activity or violent behavior is the one of the best ways to prevent future workplace violence.

While workplace violence incidents can occur at the hands of people without criminal pasts, thorough employee background screening also includes checking references and talking to previous employers about an employee’s work history, handling of emotional issues, anger management and temperament.

Preventing workplace violence is one of the most important duties of an employer. Educate yourself, your management team and your staff on the seven signs of potentially violent behavior.

Recently a Jet Blue flight attendant named Steve Slater made a dramatic exit from his job—and made the news world-wide. His “I can’t take it anymore” rant was heroic to some, and simply whiney to others.

Those who see him as a hero say he represents the overworked masses that have made it through the recession, but with nerves frayed and tempers flaring. Many of these workers, it seems, are just waiting for the next incident to push them over the edge.

But what about their bosses? Many have been hesitant to pile more onto employees who are already maxed out. Are managers getting ready to crumble under bigger piles of responsibility, too?

How does a manager avoid putting too much onto employees and risk having one quit in a dramatic fashion, or “slide the chute,” as the Jet Blue flight attendant did? It’s a matter of delegating—which is an art. Doing it right maintains a balance and keeps everyone’s workload manageable—including yours.

Here are some tips on delegating well:

• First of all, recognize that if you don’t delegate, you will cripple your ability to manage.
• Get to know your staff better. What area of the business they want to learn more about? Find tasks that will advance their knowledge and they’ll be more likely to do them well.
• Don’t “hover.” Once you give someone a task, let it go and let them do it—even if they’re doing it differently than you would (also known as doing it “wrong”).
• Give them time. Realizing an employee is capable of handling some things as well as you—even if they’re only at 50% now—comes with time. So delegate a task, teach them how to do it right, and expect that that will. Be patient.
• Empower employees with knowledge of how each project fits into the company’s operations. Let them see how important it is, and they’ll be more likely to take ownership of it.

When the recession hit, employers knew their workers couldn’t just walk out the door and find another job. Now that we’ve been through a couple of years of the downturn, stressed-out staff need to be handled carefully in order to keep them from running toward the exits as soon as things start getting better.

But, just because your staff may have options now or in the near future doesn’t mean you can’t add to their responsibilities. Who knows—maybe delegating some of your job duties will make their jobs much more fulfilling and your employees more likely to stick around!