When to Hire In House and When to Not According to a recent article in Inc. by Sarahd Lynch, one of the leading workplace trends for 2025 will be a greater emphasis on hiring from within. Even though the 2024 labor market is cooling, job openings are slowing in some sectors, and with a decrease in quit rates, some companies find themselves in an unusual position.   Labor Hoarding   With the anticipation of a recession, many companies engaged in “labor hoarding” rather than hiring new employees. One of the results of this strategy is that many companies have an ample, experienced labor force...

Tariff Survival Strategies for Small Businesses WHAT IS A TARIFF?   A tariff is a tax on the import of goods between countries as a form of foreign trade regulation. The simple explanation of the goals behind tariffs are: 1. Raise revenue 2. Protect domestic industries by increasing the price of imported goods, which provides domestic products with a price advantage. 3. Address unfair practices, such as when the exporter is subsidized by their government, thus artificially lowering the cost of production.   There are three primary methods of assessing tariffs: 1. Ad valorem – a percentage of the value of the import 2. Specific – a fixed amount on each imported...

Job-Hopping is Paying Off   Just when we thought we were beginning to understand Gen Z, a new study tells us that we don’t know them at all. We’ve read time and time again that Gen Z wants meaningful work and is willing to pass up more lucrative positions to achieve it.   Although this is obviously true for some, the new report by H&R Block reveals that nearly one-third of Gen Z workers changed jobs last year. Thirty-five percent of them did it for the money. In fact, out of all the generations studied, 30% of Gen Z workers made 30% more...

THE THREAT IS REAL Cybercriminals have the advantage   Businesses are faced with a continually evolving enemy: cybercriminals. While you have to plug and re-plug every possible hole in your security wall, day after day, cybercriminals only need to break through once. The digital landscape is growing every day. While you pursue efficiency and productivity by adopting the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI, your enemy sees them as just another entry point for cyberattacks.   What might these attacks look like?   Here is a look at some of the most egregious data breaches reported so far in 2024.   Tencent In August 2024, a hacker...

Time-off Wasn't Always a Thing.   According to an article in History.com, at the turn of the 20th century, workers got very little time off. A 1898 Massachusetts labor bulletin tracking the wages and hours of domestic workers in the Commonwealth documented that the average domestic cook worked between 78 and 83 hours a week at about 9 cents an hour. They could usually count on having Sunday off, and a lucky few may have been granted a half-day on Saturday.   Male factory workers had mostly similar work weeks, while state law only allowed women and children to work a maximum of 58...