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Bernard Madoff, convicted of running an $65 billion Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in jail. What’s your take on his punishment?

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By Knight Kiplinger

The Kiplinger Washington Editors

July 2, 2009

By year-end or so, Congress will give the nod to a major rewriting of the nation's financial regulatory system. This week’s Kiplinger Letter explores whether the package will do more harm than good and what lawmakers are likely to include.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: The Economy, Business Costs, Taxes, Supreme Court, Energy, Workplace Regulations, Climate Change, Health Care Legislation and Foreign Policy

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I just attended a franchise seminar. The speaker represents a few hundred franchises that (he says) are hand picked. He has the prospect (aka victim?) answer some questions about themselves then he makes recomendations - based on your personality, capital situation, etc.. If you pick a franchise, then he does some due dilligence for you. If you both decide it's a good idea, he helps you get started. He says he offers this service free of charge, which means he gets a commission if he's able to sell you a franchise. Has anyone done this? Successfully? Unsuccessfully?

-- fender

Reduce Turnover, Pump Up Productivity

Making people want to work at your company is less about pay and benefits and more about leadership -- but the result can boost your bottom line.

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger

June 2007

Todd Wilkinson

Fuel

Montana writer Todd Wilkinson, who interviewed Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton for Fuel, has written for a number of prominent newspapers and magazines, including the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, the Christian Science Monitor and Audubon. "One on One" is a bimonthly Kiplinger Recommends feature provided by marketing and communications newsletter Fuel.

The labor market is so tight that high employee turnover is much more than a headache. It puts companies at a huge competitive disadvantage. Key managers spend too much time recruiting and filling shifts themselves. Deadlines slip. Harried employees make mistakes or treat customers brusquely. So how do companies retain good workers when there is so much competition for their skills?

Money and benefits have to be competitive, of course, but the deciding factor for many employees is morale. In an interview in Fuel's "One on One" column for June (OK, "one on two" this time), motivational consultants Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton argue that managers often overlook one of the easiest ways to keep morale high: recognition and praise. "When you have an office full of people who generally feel good, you create a [positive] environment," Elton says. "Recognition, when it's applied well, can absolutely transform people and the organizations they work for."

Gostick and Elton used their concept of creating a "recognition culture" in the workplace to help express-delivery company DHL improve its competitiveness, reducing turnover by 28% in six months at one of its most troubled shipping hubs. Some of the techniques for instilling the need to recognize employees are deceptively simple. One idea: Keep three quarters in a pocket to remind yourself to recognize good performance three times each day. Shift a quarter to another pocket every time you deliver.

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