The Upper Perkiomen Chamber of Commerce has listed eight great reasons to become a member. I am listing them here to show our readers why joining is just a great idea! 1. NETWORKING You can never have too many friends, or business contacts, for that matter! Chamber special events and programs offer many opportunities to connect 2. INSURANCE If there’s one thing in life that’s certain, it’s uncertainty. The Chamber offers a variety of insurance options through Taylor & Ochroch, Inc, to take care of those planned and unplanned health issues. 3. SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE More than 95 percent of the businesses in the region are counted as small business, and they employ many of the Upper Perkiomen Valley workers. We know that, and we offer quality seminars specifically for small businesses! 4. MARKETING, ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Spreading the word about your business is an integral component in business success. We offer many vehicles, as well as professional training...

Thank yous can mean and do a lot of things. When it is said by the right person it can realign your employees with your companies strategic goal. The key objective here is saying it the right way and to the right people. Recognizing achievements is a way to say thank you. Giving a plaque, a gift clock, or a certificate of achievement all accomplish the same objective. There are times and places for each of these things, and there are times that just a pat on the back is necessary. What you need to keep in mind is that saying thank you the right way is whats important. Companies give plaques to their employees for a project completion or for years of service. This is the perfect way for some to recognize their employees, while other industries or departments, or companies require a crystal award, a corporate gift, or just a thank you note and some recognition on the company website. A recognition specialists job is to ensure that your company is properly recognizing these achievem...

This was taken out of incentive magazine. Marshall Goldsmith is a fellow at the National Academy of Human Resources. A question was raised during an interview with Marshall about recognizing other people being a key component to an individuals success. This was his response: "Any employee's success is highly correlated with their motivation to do the job. Study after study has shown that providing positive recognition, when deserved, for a job well done increases motivation. Another important factor in recognition is the acknowledgment of suggestions for how work can be done better. By asking for ideas and listening with respect, leaders can help their companies recognize others and motivate their people at a very low additional cost." So employees success is directly correlated to their motivation, and one way of motivating employees is to recognize their achievements. There are many ways to do this. Getting feedback and recognizing achievements in a ...

It has been proven that recognizing achievements helps a companies bottom line. These studies have been conducted and outcomes have been stated that say so much. The question is why haven't you begun recognizing your employees achievements? Whats stopping you? It doesn't have to be a plaque or a desk clock. You can recognize achievements with a simple handshake and a thank you. Your own recognition of the work that was done goes a long way towards employee productivity. That said we are going to be discussing ways to help you recognize achivements this week. Tuesday through Friday we will go through ways to improve your corporate recognition program in order to help you better understand how the system works, why it works, and why you should have been recognizing achievements long ago. Happy Monday!!

The Univest Grand Prix is being held today. We are happy to say the awards they got were provided by us. This is the first race that we got to be a part of, and it really is an amazing show. I am watching the webstream provided by wfmz69 , and I hear that cycling.tv is going to be streaming the end of the race. There are over 22 reacing teams and 200 riders in this 107 mile race. The announcers do a great job and they really make it easy to understand and follow the sport of cycling. And then we get to watch tomorrows show in Doylestown as well! They talk about dynamics and I have seen a couple crashes, and they just went through Green Lane Park past the Scottish Irish Festival. A really neat way to be a part of the community. And they do it mostly with volunteers. Amazing, and the video is really spectacular. Much thanks to Univest and all the sponsors for providing such a great community event that we can all be proud of.

Statistics cited from a 2002 NAER Survey show some interesting things about recognition and the businesses that utilize recognition programs in their organizations. Far and away the most interesting stat that popped out right away was that 84% of businesses reported having an active employee recognition program. Additionally, even as the economy cools, recognition programs seem to be gaining in popularity with 41% of respondents indicating they are doing more with their recognition programs then they were 12 months ago. Of the people without a recognition program, over half said they are looking into starting one within the next 12 months. Another interesting stat include the reasons for having a recognition program. Tops on this list is creating a positive work environment, but other reasons include reinforcing desired behaviors, motivating high performance, increasing morale and supporting organizational values. The key is not just implementing a recognition program to achieve y...

Because we know you are looking to kill time waiting for the clock to strike five on Fridays, we are going to be spotlighting products on this day; some old some new, all tried and true to the quality that you have come to know from us. This weeks product comes from our Airflyte line, and today we are spotlighting their Walnut Piano Finish Plaques. Airflyte manufacturer Tropar has been supplies awards retailers with products for over 40 years. With 30 design patents, Tropar has positioned itself to remain a major player in the corporate recognition market. We got started selling Airflyte plaques and they are one of the best suppliers to work with. They helped us grow when we were first starting out, and continually listen to their customers to roll out new products that the market demands. One of these products, the plaques in the piano finish walnut line, epitomize the value and care that goes into the Airflyte line. Sometimes recognition calls for a plaque other times the recogni...

We all know how important it is to hire good employees or to find good volunteers if you are working for a non profit organization such as a youth sports org. This can especially be a burden if you are on a tight budget. After reading an article in Fortune Small Business , and in trying to hire a full time employee, this article helped reinforce this fact. Diana Nguyen is 33. She started her career as a family physician and worked at an HMO seeing 25 patients in four hours. Doing this for sometime led Diana to branch out and open her own private practice. She kept trying to hire employees that weren't the right fit for her organization, and it hurt her business. While attending the UC Irvine School of Business extension program she learned how to find talented employees. This program enabled her to identify and hire an office manager who was able to grown Hguyen practice for her, while she focused on the stuff she likes doing, cosmetic medicine. And she is enjoying he...