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Make Allies in the Workplace to Boost your Own Employee Status A pleasant work environment can go a long way. Having allies in the workplace that work with you, opposed to against you, can create an enjoyable calm at your place of employment. While everyone is not going to be best friends in the workplace, the ability to get along is very important. This can be more challenging with some people than others. However, typically when there is a real bad apple in the mix, they tend to weed themselves out with complete alienation. With that in mind, make allies with as many of your co-workers as you can. A healthy work environment makes the actual work go much smoother. If you want to gain allies at work treat everyone with respect. Employees that are known for their fairness and respect for others are the ones that people trust. If something goes wrong on the job, the boss and other employees know that they can get the right version of the situation from the employee that is kind to everyone. You do not have to like people to be kind to them. Co-workers that you do not like personally should be the ones that you greet and discuss work issues with. Other than that, you want to steer clear of your least favorites. The same is true for bosses that are on your least liked list. Simply limit contact to business material and you will cut down on the chances of having altercations. Nothing ignites work hostility more than employees that do not do their share of the work. If you want to have allies in the workplace, be sure that you are doing your job. You will not have to force the issue if you are doing what you are supposed to do. Your co-workers will like having you around and will be pleasant if you are completing the work you need to do. Don’t gossip. This is one of the major ways to create dislike in the workplace. Spreading rumors, or even truths that were confessed behind closed doors can keep the office on edge. If you are the confidant of someone at work, do not take the information they have shared with you and share it with others. If co-workers come to you and bicker about one another, do not chime in. If they are complaining to you about someone, they are complaining about you to someone else. Politely listen and move on. Remember your manners. Sometimes things get hectic at work and we forget our manners. We find ourselves in a hurry, throwing reports at the secretary or interrupting someone’s phone conversation. Try to compose yourself and be polite. Do not forget your manners simply because you are at work. Put forth extra effort to get along with your co-workers that are not easy to get along with. Personalities are going to be in conflict occasionally. There is nothing wrong with being opposed to someone and their views of the world. However, if they are your co-worker or boss, you need to not let that get in the way of you communicating with them. Allies do not have to necessarily be friends. Instead they should be people that are aligned with you because of the job you do and the way that you treat people. Employees that are able to form alliances at work will have a much easier time getting through the day. Also, if something happens on the job and you need help, co-workers will be much more willing to help out if you are someone who is well liked. With that in mind, it is worth your effort to try to gain allies at work.

Highlights for Free Stuff for Educators Everybody knows that teachers work hard for little monetary compensation. Fortunately, there are many fine resources available that allow educators access to free stuff. Who deserves free stuff more than our teachers? If you are a teacher searching for the best of what the web's freebies, here are some places that offer freebies just for educators. Teaching Education Aid Available for Free There are many websites on the World Wide Web that offer totally free educational and teaching aids. If you teach younger students, you can find great coloring pages. You can also find several teaching aids, including alphabetical pages. Why spend money on expensive preprinted alphabets? You can gain easy access to your own free alphabet pages. Print them out, color them and seal them to make them last. This is an easy way to put together very elemental packets and gain access to fun activity pages. There are many fine teacher resources available for free on the World Wide Web. Here are even more resources for finding great and free resources for educators of all stripes. Getting Access to Free DVDS for Educators Did you know that you could get access to free educational DVDs? Izzit.org offers you a free DVD on your birthday (or another day of your choosing). This offer is limited to teachers of grades 6-12. This website also offers educators discounts on educational DVDs as well as coupons for free ice cream. Gaining Free Nutrition Educational Materials If you are an educator seeking out free nutritional materials, you are in luck. The Dole Corporation is currently offering free educational materials to teachers. Their 5 a Day program offers free downloadable teaching materials. You can also request professional teaching materials by using mail and fax. Simply request your free nutritional materials on your school's official letterhead. Free Computer Tools for Educators If you need access to free teacher tools, Microsoft Office has got you covered. Microsoft is currently offering free learning essentials that can help you create handouts, compose tests, and make presentations and other educational content. You will need a registered copy of Microsoft Office 2002 or 2003 that runs on Windows XP and Windows 2000. Need Teaching Aids for Your Classroom? If you are looking for free teaching visual aids, there are many nonprofits that can provide you with such aids. The Human Genome Project offers educators free posters. Although this promotion is directed specifically to educators, anyone can take advantage of this great offer. The National Institute of Drug Abuse also offers free visual teaching aids. These are great to hang in the classroom. You can order multiple copies directly form the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The USEPA is another organization that offers educators a variety of free posters, as well as other teaching materials, including activity books, CD-ROMs, lesson plans and more. Keep Your Classroom Safe With Free Cleaning Aids Keeping the classroom clean is one of the biggest challenges of any educator. The Clorox Company is trying to make it easier on teachers by offering them a free "Clean Up the Classroom" multimedia kit aimed specifically at classroom educators. The free kit comes loaded with a poster, a cleaning guide and DVD. You will also get a free canister of handy Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. Get Free Magazine Subscription Offers Educators have access to many free magazine subscription offers. Yes Magazine is offering educators a free one-year subscription. This is a magazine published by the Positive Futures Network. This is non-profit organization that helps promote social change to a more compassionate and sustainable world. Take advantage by contacting the magazine for your free educator subscription.

Positive Reasons Why Employee Turnover Can Be a Good Thing Employee turnover is the bane of many an organization. If you pick up any business paper, you will find headline after headline screaming about how much turnover is costing companies and how to keep your employees happy and on board to avoid the headaches and hassles of high turnover. The tide, however, is starting to turn. More and more business experts are stepping up and saying turnover doesn’t have to be the end of the world. In fact, in some cases, turnover can be the best thing that ever happened to your company. While some turnover is as bad as traditional wisdom assumes it is, other instances of turnover can be a real positive for your business. How can turnover possibly be a good thing? It all comes down to who is leaving the company, and why. Every office has its workers that are a drag on the business for one reason or another. Maybe the employee is dissatisfied with their job because they have been working it for too long and are overqualified, but they don’t have any room for advancement. Maybe an employee thinks that all of the decisions you are making about the business are the wrong ones and are constantly critical. Maybe the employee just has a personality conflict with the other people in the company and you and other works simply don’t like them very much. When these kinds of employees leave your company, it can be a shot of life into the business. Suddenly, everyone feels hopeful and re-energized because the negative energy in the air is gone. Negative vibes in the office can have a very damaging effect on the staff, and by extension, your business. When the person causing the bad feeling heads for the highway, they take with them all of the problems they created. Not only does the departure of an employee who was causing trouble in the office boost morale for the employees who are left behind because the bad feelings are gone, but it also boosts morale because it creates a job opening within company. If the person who left was a superior to many people in the office, there is now an instant opportunity for advancement. Your workers will step up with their games as they vie for the position, creating new business opportunities for you and generally keeping the spirit high in the office. If you decide to promote from within whenever possible after a turnover, your employees will work harder with the knowledge that they have a chance of moving up. These turnover positives hold true whether the employee in question quit the job or was fired. Who they were in the company and why they left are often much more important in determining whether the turnover was positive or negative. While losing an employee who is bringing everyone else down is a positive thing for your business, losing an employee who was an integral part of the corporation is another. Of course, there are costs involved in a turnover – you have to re-train an employee, and if you hire from outside of the company, you have the costs of advertising the job and the cost of the time spent interviewing candidates. If you are losing employee after employee, and the employees you are losing are the ones who were holding things together at the office, then you need to consider things you can do to reverse the turnover trend. Despite the potential negative side, turnover doesn’t have to be a bad thing for your company. If you manage it properly and if you are dropping employees who have been bringing your business down, turnover could be just the thing to turn your fortunes around.