Belated Christmas Card...

More Good Guys - M2 Magazine!

http://www.m2magazine.co.nz

M2 has a bunch of magazines covering Men's Health, Men's Lifestyle, and now, M2 for Women. I caught up with them and asked how they're coping in the recession!

Tell us about your business.

We publish M2, M2woman, M2TECH & M2AUTO magazines

What is your attitude towards the recession?

It's tough, but helps you focus on what matters.

Do you have a recession plan?

Continue to more & more value for our valued customers.

How do you keep staff happy/uplifted?

Treat them as you wish to be treated.

What's the biggest challenge you feel your company faces, and how do you inspire your employees to meet it head on?

Keep focused on what matters - as the late great Sir Peter Blake always said, "Will it make the boat go faster?"

Who is your ideal target customer?

25-49 year old men & women.

How do we find out more about your business?

Simply visit: M2magazine.co.nz or M2woman.co.nz

Proof - Layoffs are a toxic solution

Here are some great quotes about layoffs and why they're not always the answer:

Downsizing or doing layoffs is a toxic solution. Used sparingly and with planning downsizing can be an organizational lifesaver, but when layoffs are used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, downsizing can destroy an organization's effectiveness.

How you treat people really matters - to the people who leave and the people who remain.

One outcome of downsizing must be to preserve the organization's intellectual capital.
How downsized employees are treated directly affects the morale and retention of valued, high-performing employees who are not downsized.

More from the article can be found here:

http://humanresources.about.com/od/layoffsdownsizing/a/downsizing.htm

Getting Laid (Off) has it's pluses!

This is cool.

Yolanda's Bridal Salon in Boston is going to award three wedding dresses to laid off brides.

“We wanted to do something to help all those brides who got laid off or lost jobs because of the economic situation. Brides who don’t have to pay for a gown or bridesmaid dresses can use the money to pay other bills. It’s just a small way of giving back.”

Sure, it's a gimmick, but any publicity at the moment, right?

http://bit.ly/i7SaL

After-After Work Drinks

Redundancy leads to increased drinking - tell us something we didn't know!

PEOPLE affected by redundancy are hitting the bottle, a report out yesterday suggests. Charity Drinkaware found that one in 10 Britons either made redundant or close to someone who had lost their job in the last six months is drinking more.

Of those, 49 per cent said their daytime alcohol intake had increased. In the survey of 2253 adults, 71 per cent said heavier drinking was directly linked to redundancy.

Losing a job was also found to damage emotional wellbeing, with 55 per cent of those affected suffering mood swings, anxiety or boredom. Chris Sorek, chief executive of Drinkaware, said: "The country is facing one of its worst recessions in history and redundancies are making daily headlines.

"Losing your job is one of the most stressful life events and people turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism. But alcohol is a depressant and can lead to further stress and anxiety."

It really is possible - and worth it long term!

Sometimes I feel like a lone wolf promoting 'Non-layoffs.'

But here is a great quote!

Being mindful of the pitfalls of large scale downsizing and employee redundancy was the clear message that Heather Ridout, Chairman of the Australian Industry Group gave to business in a recent interview. Heather is not a lone voice in the wilderness on this topic. In the wake of weekly announcements that big business is shedding staff in mammoth proportions, other business and political leaders are joining a growing voice around the world warning of the consequences of these knee-jerk reactions to sustain short-term business viability.

http://climateforchangebook.com/wordpress/

新しいウェブサイトはスタッフを置かない会社を祝う!

www.wehaventlaidanyoneoff.com/ has made it to Japan.

Thanks to google I could translate the link, and here's what it said:

New website to celebrate company does not have a staff

Made to collide at an extra HOSUTOJASUTINBURAUN (I think that's my name) the radio in the morning before his world came Christmas. (I think they're trying to say my world came crashing down before Christmas.)

But he took the feeling of anger and hostility, and positive to celebrate the company failed to door staff to do something - I turned website.

Love it...

Why you need to be on this site!

I had a great email from Chris Williams, MD of King Street Advertising (http://www.kingst.co.nz/index.php) and he reiterates what others have said about being on this website: 'It feels like we're hanging out with companies with similar business acumen; we feel like we're part of the same family; and we could become part of something enormous!'

www.wehaventlaidanyoneoff.com is still an infant, but is generating some real interest.

My main aim at the moment is to get your company noticed!

Gawker and Chicago Reader

Thanks to these guys for giving http://www.wehaventlaidanyoneoff.com/ a shoutout.

http://gawker.com/5280359/ has a very funny line about their own company's actions.

And http://www.chicagoreader.com/ is just cool. I want to write for you guys!

Hope everyone's weekend is going great...

Let's lay off the firefighters!

Call me old fashioned, but I would have thought when it comes to keeping your community safe, firefighters are essential. Tell that to Lehigh Acres Fire Department in South Florida. They're making nine firefighters redundant. What next? Nurses and policemen? Talk to any fireman; most don't even do it for the money, they do it to help people.

Damn credit crunch.

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/46666412.html

The CNN interview

The only version of my interview I could find online didn't have Richard Quest's elegant intro.

So here it is in it's entirety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlyeS7ZJWAo

Please pass it on to all those companies who value their staff!

A publisher who hasn't laid anyone off? In these times?

Great company, this. I caught up http://www.cleanslatepress.com

Tell us about your business, what do you do?

Clean Slate Press is a publisher of innovative literacy and social studies resources for the international education market. We create grade-appropriate material that is curriculum-linked for each market we sell to. We present series overviews and prototypes to international publishers, who then, if we’ve done our jobs properly, commit to the series. The market we’ve been most successful in is Canada, and we’re also starting to reap rewards from the U.S.

We are also publishers/distributors for the NZ/Aus market. Providing quality materials for NZ/Aus teachers and students is something we are very passionate about. We are 100% NZ owned and operated, and we are committed to serving our local market.

What is your attitude towards the recession?

While we are aware that the recession has impacted significantly on our industry and on the individual schools we sell to, we are in a growth period. This is partly due to the fact that because we are a small,dynamic company we can make decisions quickly and change our focus. We operate on several business models and try not to hold all our eggs in one basket. In some ways, we may benefit from the recession due
to large companies choosing to outsource design and editorial services from companies such as ourselves rather than work with a costly inhouse team.

Do you have a recession plan?

We don’t have a plan as such apart from continuing to grow our client base and making sure that we are open to different ways of doing business. Our hard costs, such as printing, have increased due to the recession, but our sales are up. Our policy is that we must be doing something right, so we’re just going to keep on doing it. We learn more about our industry every day.

How do you keep staff happy/uplifted?

We are lucky that our staff all want to work in the publishing industry and are passionate about their jobs. They take pride in their work, and we take pride in having such a great team. We offer our design/editorial staff flexible hours and a casual, friendly working environment. We work closely together, and every staff member is valued. We also go through quite a lot of wine!

Who is your ideal target customer?

We love all customers, but there is one company we have been wooing for several years that we would really love to do business with and that is Scholastic U.S.A. The time will come – we just have to be patient!