“The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has upheld OSHA’s multi-employer citation policy in a reversal of a decision the Commission made during the previous administration. Under the policy, OSHA inspectors may cite employers on multi-employer worksites for violations that do not expose their own workers to occupational hazards. For example, a general contractor who controls the worksite may be responsible for violations created by a subcontractor whose workers are exposed to safety or health hazards. In reaching its Aug. 19 decision,* the Commission agreed with an earlier decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had rejected the Commission’s previous contrary view that employers are only legally responsible for protecting the safety and health of their own workers. The case under consideration involved Summit Contractors Inc., a general contractor constructing an apartment complex in Lebanon, Pa., in 2005. An OSHA compliance officer cited Summit for a safety violation after observing workers of a subcontractor using electrical equipment that lacked ground fault circuit interrupters and which had been brought onto the worksite by Summit.”

Read the full You’re the Boss blog posting here.

1. Does the target company produce positive cash flow?

2. Does the company cover its costs?

3. Can it be diversified?

“We have found that in making deals over the years, our chances of success are much higher when we have positive answers to these three questions. When we explored the Lexington deal, for instance, we liked the answers we got, so we moved ahead.

But I think this exercise can be useful even if you’re not looking at a potential acquisition. I believe that all business owners should be asking these three questions about their own businesses.”

High unemployment and layoffs in more dangerous industries like construction played a major role in the decrease, the agency said. The construction unemployment rate is 17.3%, nearly double the overall jobless rate of 9.5%.

Workers on average logged 6% fewer hours last year than in 2008. Employees in construction worked 17% fewer hours in 2009 than the previous year.”

For more detailed statistics, visit the BLS website.

That is the question posed by this informative (and lengthy) piece that ran in a recent Sunday New York Times Magazine… groups of youths often labeled as “failure to launch” and “boomerang” kids.

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When In Doubt: Hire the Best Writing Skills…

Why does hiring the best writer make sense?  Let me count the ways:

1. People talk like they write and vice versa.  If someone has trouble putting a good, topical sentence together, you can bet that they’re going to have trouble talking to folks verbally at times.Home school

2. Have you heard of this thing called email?  Apparently it’s a somewhat important business tool based almost entirely on the ability to write.

3. Apparently when used incorrectly or without context provided by effective writing skills, email can piss people off faster than Rush Limbaugh at the Democratic National Convention.  Advantage: Writing skills with a sprinkle of judgment.

4. The ability to use the written word to share ideas, motivate and gain acceptance makes any employee more valuable to your organization.  Writing skills can influence almost anyone – customers, fellow employees, media outlets and competitors to name a few – and we don’t pay enough attention to the value it provides in the hiring process.

When I say hire someone with writing skills, I’m not talking about someone who can write term papers, because let’s face it, no one reads those. I’m talking about the ability to write down some thoughts in an engaging, personable, influencing manner.  You know it when you see it. The problem is you probably don’t see it in the interview process.  So you need to create a way to engage the candidate in a writing exercise that doesn’t even feel like an exercise.

My favorite way – pick something you didn’t talk about in person on the candidate’s resume.  Drop them a note and ask a detailed question about the school or company you’re referring to.  Make sure the question is detailed enough to warrant a 3-4 paragraph response, and make sure you ask for some opinion as well to get the level of detail you need.

Example Email to generate writing sample: “Rick, have an interview coming up with a kid who was in the Forestry program like you at (you guessed it readers) Wake Forest.  Based on this guy’s limited experience and the fact he’s applying for an entry level role, can you drop me some notes today to help me understand the top three things a kid coming out of that program should have competency in and maybe your thoughts on the transferability of that degree to an entry-level customer service role?  You’d help me a bunch with the notes you provide.  Thanks in advance, KD”

I’m not asking you to lie.  I really did have a Forestry grad that interviewed for a support role.  As far as you know. Keep it truthful, but find a reason to ask for the detail related to something.  And make sure you make it clear that you want it in a response to the email. Then take what comes in and judge accordingly.  Add it to the overall profile of your candidate (save the email, you folks who say I’ll get sued, blah, blah, blah…) and make your hiring decision accordingly.

And hire the best writer when all other things are relatively the same.