Earth day is a great time to take a hard look at how we can reduce waste and preserve our planet.  I've always been a big fan of the paperless office and though we're not there yet think there are some simple things that we can do.   A friend of mine Bella Patel a senior recruiter from Booz Allen shared some tips for the office I thought I'd pass along-

- shut down your computer when you leave work.  easy!  it takes 100-300 trees to offset the emissions given off from ONE computer being left on all year!

- print on both sides of a paper.  or if not completely necessary, don't print the document at all. 

- unplug infrequently used office items - shredder, space heater, etc. 

- use your favorite reusable mug for that cup of coffee. not those Styrofoam cups next to the coffee machine. 

And finally you don't need to print out every resume you look at!  I've been surprised by the number of old school recruiters who simply have to have paper print outs of everything. 

1)      Buy in and diversity at the top – the most critical element to a successful diverse workforce, executives must be committed and diversity needs to exists in all levels of the organization.

2)      Culture – corporate identity,  companies culture is defined by its core values and purpose >>  these along with performance profile should determine job fit, not race, gender, age, or lifestyle.

3)      Attracting and Retaining diverse candidate – speak their language, understand their unique needs,  unite with commonalities

4)      Simple things you can do today – three quick take aways to get you

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

When I heard ERE bought Fordyce Letter as a 3rd party agency owner I was very excited.  Then when they announced that the new website would have content I thought to myself here we go, finally more 3rd party content on ERE.

Sadly I was disappointed to find the content is two years old and the only way to get fresh material is through a printed version.   I'm ashamed to admit on the 3rd party side my brethren are slightly behind on the technology and process side.  Masters of sales techniques, creative and more aggressive then our corporate cousins... but some of us actually embrace technology.  We go to websites for FRESH content and like our content delivered electronically!  I hope this is only a short term thing and that soon the Fordyce Letter content and community is fully integrated within the innovative ERE model!

I know I've seen a couple articles and post about social networking sites and how folks should be careful about what they post... so when I recently read this article on a Facebook group called "Thirty Reasons Girls Should Call it a Night" with over 172K members who post pictures of themselves and their girls on binge drinking nights it got me thinking... http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/10/face.book/index.html

Now I wonder is if fair to discriminate against someone for a rough night out?  Many of us have been in embarrassing situations, most of us don't post toilet hugging pictures online but should employers search these sites and can they legally use this in making a hiring decission?  And is it fair to discriminate against women for behavior that is considered acceptable for men? 

With the holidays quickly approaching now is a great time to reach out to those candidates that you have been recruiting throughout the year and have in the hopper (a term i freely stole from Shally)  Any candidate that would have been a great hire however for whatever reason (your end or there's) an offer and hire was not made.  Now you should be keeping track of these folks and engaging them in some way.   If you are now is a great time of year to reach out to them.  A couple things that may make them more open to reconsider your company and offer:

1.  Winter Depression

wikipediate link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder

There is a psychological seasonal depression that 9% of northern Americans suffer in the winter.  Simply put we get sad when there less sunlight.   So if you are in Florida or California and willing to relocate folks now is a great time.  Even if you are in a cold area people are more open to suggestion and may consider opportunities they otherwise would not. 

2.  Holiday Stress

Web MD has a good article on this

http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/78/95689.htm

Lets face it holidays are tough,  I read once that American's favorite holiday was the 4th of July.  I agree completely nothing like kicking back a couple brews and letting out the pyromaniac in you.  Now Xmas is a different story, between all the shopping, family and expectations its a difficult time. 

3.  New Year’s Resolutions

Everyone reevaluates the year they've just had looks ahead.  Many people want great challenges, to achieve more and to make more money.  In that evaluation if you have something to offer that would help people achieve their resolutions the timing is perfect now.

So get out those holiday cards or emails,  say or do something nice for the candidates you have in the hopper and give them a little brightness in this stress full holiday season while reminding them who you are and the great opportunities you have to offer!

Read a couple articles last week on the impact on worker productivity of Cyber Monday (the black Friday online).  I am a libertarian techn-evangelist and believe everyone ought to have the right to use the internet freely at work and where ever they are however what do you do when people abuse this freedom? .... 

The old adage trust but verify seems to be the best bet.  People using company resources on company time will be monitored, the advances in technology have made it so that a three year old can practically silently monitor website usage, emails, IMs and with viop calls.  Does that mean you should spy on your employees?  NO - It DOES mean that it should be made clear to employees that at work, on company time and company equipment  - what they do the company has the right to know.

Give them freedom but make sure its not being abused by verifying how that freedom is being used.   And if it continues to be abused then block away, but block wisely, some sites like Facebook, MySpace can be tools or can be terribly abused.