Topeka Capital
Journal
April
2, 2000
BUSINESS
NOTES
Salina marks new development --- Recent business development
in Salina includes a new 27,000-square-foot Office Depot employing
about 35 people; a new 3,800-square-foot dental facility; A $1
million renovation and addition of 28 new jobs at Kmart; a new
14,000-square-foot Del Electronics store; a new 8,400-square-foot,
$320,000 retail facility; a 94,000-square-foot addition to Wal-Mart
transforming it into a supercenter and creating 100 new jobs;
a new 40,500-square-foot, 72-room, Country Inns and Suites by
Carlson; and a 35,000-square-foot expansion to the Kansas market
headquarters for ALLTEL.
SBA releases resource in Spanish --- For the first time,
the United States Small Business Administration has produced a
Spanish version of its Small Business Resource Guide, copies of
which are being distributed to SBA district offices across the
nation.
Wells Fargo SBA Lending, a division of Wells Fargo & Co.,
suggested the SBA translate its long-running brochure into Spanish
and paid for its printing.
To receive a brochure, contact the SBA at 1-800-827-5722 or visit
their Web site at www.sba.gov.
Workplace thieves out-steal shoplifters --- The homemade
cheesecake with its ''Happy Birthday'' message was placed in the
office refrigerator to await the festivities planned for later
in the day. But when the party for the cherished co-worker was
to begin, the worst was discovered: The cake was no longer there.
''It had simply vanished. It has never been seen since,'' said
an employee of a Sacramento, Calif., company who recounted the
exasperating incident.
Such tales of pilfering from the communal company refrigerator
are common. It is a sad but true fact that in many American workplaces,
one's bologna sandwich is not safe from one's colleagues.
A 1999 survey from Michael G. Kessler & Associates, an international
investigative and forensic accounting firm in New York, turned
up some pretty astounding facts on office theft of all kinds.
About 79 percent of employees steal from their employers to the
tune of more than $120 billion a year. In fact, the study concluded
that ''not only do employees steal, they out-steal shoplifters.''
Companies crack down on Internet use --- As e-mail and Internet
use at work proliferates, more companies are making it clear through
written policy that they won't put up with monkey business on
company computers. Some, such as Ameritech, have a ''zero-tolerance
policy'' on all personal use of equipment. Others, like CoManage,
don't believe in any restrictions.
According to a 1999 survey by the American Management Association,
the majority of U.S. companies monitor their employees in some
way. Twenty-seven percent of companies snoop into e-mail, up from
15 percent in 1993. Of those companies that have electronic monitoring
policies, 84 percent have informed their employees about them.
According to Vault.com, a company that reports on workplace issues,
54 percent of the companies it surveyed recently said they had
caught employees browsing Web sites unrelated to work. And of
200 midsize and large companies surveyed by Websense Inc., a maker
of filter software, a third reported having fired employees for
misusing the Internet.
Gee Biz
Employers compete for graduates --- Employers are wooing
workers sooner than they used to.
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers,
the tight labor market has companies on a time crunch competing
to recruit technically-savvy college graduates.
''Employers responding to the NACE's Job Outlook 2000 survey said
they planned to conduct about 55 percent of their recruiting in
the fall instead of hanging back,'' said Camille Luckenbaugh,
NACE employment information manager.
Some of the industries that are looking: engineering services,
communications firms, companies manufacturing electrical, electronic
and computers equipment, computer systems design and programming
firms, financial services firms and retail and wholesale employers.
