Posted June 02, 2021in Business Feature
More than 66,000 job openings are listed through Workforce Development. As businesses start to reach the “light at the end of the tunnel” and fully reopen as COVID-19 wanes and restrictions ease, owners face a major hurdle — hiring the staff they need to “get back to normal.” Pandemic-related unemployment
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Posted May 05, 2021in Business Feature
What happens when employers and employees disagree on COVID-19 vaccinations? When many business owners closed their doors and sent employees home to work remotely, and/or instituted social distancing policies in response to COVID-19, the ensuing impact on their bottom line left them wondering if their business would survive the pandemic.
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Posted March 31, 2021in Business Feature
A customer is about to enter your business on an icy Iowa day, slips and falls, breaking a bone… A diner in your restaurant gets sick after eating your special of the day… A shopper in your establishment trips over a loose carpet, falling against a shelf and cutting his
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Posted March 03, 2021in Business Feature
For those of us who grew up with “Lassie,” the beloved Timmy-saving Collie, our pet dogs were wonderful companions, even part of the family. We took them for walks and occasional car rides. They greeted us at the door when we got home. If they were really “spoiled,” they got
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Posted February 03, 2021in Business Feature
Changing trends have regularly caused business leaders to rethink their use of office space. From a time when clunky rotary phones were placed on heavy wooden desks, to the days of cubicle central surrounded by offices with windows, to the open space layout devoted to collaboration, ideas about what makes
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Posted January 06, 2021in Business Feature
While COVID-19 has disrupted “business as usual” in many ways, it has perhaps most drastically changed the way we communicate. Many face-to-face meetings have been eliminated, and businesses of all sizes have embraced videoconferencing as the next best option to gathering around the conference table. Some rely on virtual meetings
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Posted December 02, 2020in Business Feature
For business leaders, each year presents its own set of challenges. However, none have been quite like the challenges of 2020, which included the COVID-19 pandemic. But, as with most challenges, area leaders demonstrated innovation and perseverance, and successes are to be found. Each and every day — even in
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Posted November 04, 2020in Business Feature
The days of walking into a real estate open house unannounced or shaking hands with the salesperson from whom you purchase a car are seemingly gone. From the moment COVID-19 first came onto the scene in March, business sectors have taken action to change their business, offer contact-less interaction and
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Posted September 30, 2020in Business Feature
Iowa is a political hotbed during most presidential election cycles with its first-in-the-nation status of the Iowa Caucuses. Because of that — and the fact that it is a General Election year — there’s bound to be workplace discussions about candidates, issues or politics, in general. Public and private employers
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Posted September 02, 2020in Business Feature
Scott Smoldt was golfing with someone from his club when they started talking about their professions. The man, a business broker, asked Smoldt whether he’d ever considered selling his business, Smoldt Moving & Storage. Smoldt, who purchased the family-owned business in 2002 when his dad retired, told the man he
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