If one dose of federal bureaucracy news today wasn’t enough for you, there’s more.
The Washington Post did an investigation of federal contracting data and found that the government awarded at least $5 billion in federal contracting dollars to businesses classified as small businesses when they really weren’t small at all. Most of these businesses had [...]
The Small Business Administration, the federal agency founded in 1953 to support the nation’s small businesses, has been criticized in recent years for slow handling of disaster relief, poor operational efficiency and low employee morale – all while the federal government has continually slashed its annual budget.
A new report by the Government Accountability Office finds [...]
Where do small businesses stand on proposals to reform the health-insurance system? A new survey suggests many small employers currently without coverage aren’t willing to pay hardly anything for it.
The survey by Mercer of about 3,400 employers – 545 that do not offer employee health coverage – found that 43% of those employers [...]
When it comes to evaluating employee performance, many small companies still use your standard annual performance review where managers provide detailed written feedback to their direct reports once a year. But there’s growing skepticism that these yearly appraisals are valuable.
In fact, they may cause more harm than good.
Such reviews hurt morale and lead to [...]
Editor’s note: Today and on coming Mondays, we’ll be interviewing 2008 Top Small Workplaces winners about their companies and the unique workplace practices that help make them successful businesses. You can read the full 2008 Top Small Workplaces package here. You can also nominate a business for Top Small Workplaces 2009 here.
Many businesses offer a [...]
Small business may be the answer to finding a job in a weakened economy.
As talk of layoffs and buyouts run rampant and unemployment claims reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to rise, many job seekers are worried about finding a job. And due to the troubled economy, many retirees and at-home moms [...]
In the scramble to find alternative lending sources, some entrepreneurs have been turning to so-called peer-to-peer lending sites — where individuals can find other individuals willing to lend them money. Now, even those are being squeezed.
Peer-to-peer lending site Prosper.com halted all new loans on its site earlier this week until the Securities and Exchange Commission [...]
He certainly stole the spotlight at last night’s final presidential debate between Democrat Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain at Hofstra University in New York.
I looked over the transcript and counted how many times both candidates touched on this iconic small-business man. The tally?
Mr. McCain mentioned him 21 times last night; [...]
The economy is offering small-business owners lots to grumble about these days. But there are also some silver linings to the slow time — such as the ability to become a leaner, meaner operation.
That was the message yesterday from business owners talking about coping with the economy at the Top Small Workplaces conference in [...]
At last night’s keynote speech at the Top Small Workplaces conference in downtown Chicago, Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines Co., talked shop about what her company does best: customer service.
For the past two years, the now-retired executive has served as one of the judges of the Top Small Workplaces contest, which The Wall [...]