AP - THE BAROMETER: Consumer confidence in the economy edged upward in July, the private research group the Conference Board reported, reversing a six-month slide since January. Continue

AP - Franca Tantillo puts rising fuel prices in the same category as the springtime hail storm that wiped out part of her strawberry crop. Both cut into the profit she can make at the farmers markets she sells at in New York City, about 135 miles south of her farm.

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Separating Workers Guide: Items to Cover. Explain that if their behavior continues you will put them into progressive discipline which can eventually lead to layoff. It helps him remember and understand what occurred in the layoff meeting. For every act of gross misconduct, you should document the incident and discuss it with the worker. Regardless, your employee termination agreement will include the rights and responsibilities of both the worker and the business. Give 2 or 3 chances with formal warnings to increase before firing. In this case, you must negotiate a settlement and a release of claims before you layoff. Conducting lay offs is never an enjoyable task, but you and your workers can get through it if you do it properly. An exit interview is significantly more difficult to conduct than a job interview, or even a productivity review, because there is good chance the worker leaving is unhappy with you as their employer. Instead of agreeing to the implied question, you must say, "Of course I want to aid you; this is why we've provided you a severance. A worker-employer stalemate of this kind can only make it worse and the boss should address this right away.

If your small business is big enough then reassignment and transfer could be a good alternative for you. Simply citing your employee with a letter of reprimand may upgrade your employee's work performance, but often it won't have a lasting effect. If you follow a proper procedure, you will not surprise the worker with any of this. Obviously, the previous supervisor didn't have the guts to tell this guy about his terrible productivity.