Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Mind Your P's and Q's
Imagine the chagrin of one eBay seller who tried to sell somesoftware for an "IMB" computer. In fact, misspellingswere so common on eBay, the company installed a spell check feature forsellers earlier this year. "People will still look for thosefortuitous misspellings, but they will be fewer," sayseBay's Hani Durzy.
Misspellings in advertising, marketing materials and lettersquickly erode your company's credibility, especially ifyou're selling professional services, says Rick Keating, CEO ofmarketing firm Keating & Co., in Florham Park, New Jersey."[People in] industries that are detail-focused expect thatyou'll be diligent with their work," he says. "Peopleunderestimate the power of a misspelled word."
Spell check catches most errors, but it isn't a reliable wayto check the proper use of words or grammar. If you don't havea staffer who's a good copy editor, hire someone to proof yourmaterials before sending them to the printer, Keating advises.
While it can be difficult to quantify the actual impact of amisspelling-an ignored sales pitch or the customers who don'tcall-a badly placed misspelling can cost you if it forces you toreprint material or products.
Pay Attention
"Don't ask, they won't tell" is a dangerouspolicy when it comes to monitoring pay equity.
If you don't monitor the total pay earned by each of youremployees, broken down by gender and ethnicity, you might beoverlooking inadvertent discrimination, says Mary Graham, associateprofessor of organizational studies at Clarkson University inPotsdam, New York. In her studies of the personnel records at majorcompanies, she's found that women often get 3 percent less thanmen with similar jobs and performance appraisals working at thesame firm.
"It's not surprising that it's overlooked,"she says. "You don't want to take away managers'discretion to reward performance. But look on an annual basis tosee who got the promotions and bonuses to see if it isunintentionally discriminatory."
Gender pay inequity tends to widen over time, adds Vicki Lovell,study director for the Institute for Women's Policy Research,based in Washington, DC. "It's more equal when people arejust entering the labor market," she explains. "Forpeople who are fresh out of college and just starting out, theirinitial job offers are about equal."
But over time, inequities start to creep in. The mathematicalcertainty is that just one or two below-par raises guarantee that awoman or minority will continue to lag behind white men, even whenthey do the same work. That's why it's so important toreview pay patterns annually.
of employees say they've witnessed misconduct at work.
SOURCE: Ethics ResourceCenter
of small-and midsize-business leaders say they are likely to hirenew employees over the next year.
SOURCE: Penn Schoen& Berland Associates Inc.
Joanne Cleaver has written for a variety of publications,including the Chicago Tribune and Executive Female.
