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Well, cold and flu season is upon us once again and with it the heightened concerns regarding contracting “what’s going around”, or “the plague”( as we dreadingly refer to it at All Star) from lingering germs.  Though there have been many studies which prove that good old-fashioned hand washing is the best preventative measure to keep from picking up or spreading these heinous microbes, hand sanitizing agents do help as well.    Claims of 99.9% effectiveness may be a bit over exaggerated – these are probably statistics collected in a controlled, ultra clean lab testing environment.    However, even if this percentage drops to 40 – 60% in “the real world”, anything clearly is better than 0%.  Alcohol-base antibacterial products have been proven to be the most effective.

In an article I recently wrote for Occupational Health & Safety I detail the importance of employee engagement as a tactic towards improving safety. The entire article can be seen by clicking on This Link.

Most of us like trees.  Here in New England, we particularly enjoy them during the changing-of-colors Fall foliage season.  Might the price of that appreciation, particularly in our business and residential sections however, simply be too high?  After doing our best to deal with a full two business day power outage here at the Central/Western Massachusetts gateway due to an extremely unusual Halloween weekend Nor’easter, that question arises.

North America accounted for 38% of global Blu-ray player shipments in 2010, according to new data from In-Stat.

Shipment of Blu-ray Disc players is set to replace DVD players during the next five years, reaching 105 million units shipped by 2015, according to new research by In-Stat.

The Sony lineup will have 37 models to choose from, including 32 web-enabled TVs and 23 with 3D features.

STURBRIDGE OFFICE PARK, FISKDALE, MA – In honor of Earth Day, the employees of All Star Incentive Marketing have documented their personal pledges to support of the company’s ongoing commitment to reduce their carbon footprint. 

In an economy that continues to struggle, it is critical to hold onto clients and keep them happy because new ones can be difficult to nail down.  Contract renegotiation time can often be dicey but following a few key steps can result in a positive outcome for both parties involved.

Monday, March 11, launched March Madness, which is often associated with the beginning of a month with lost productivity.  As employees begin filling out their brackets and comparing stats, the unproductive work hours may begin.  However, Don Forsyth, a professor of ethical leadership at the University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies, said, “"It can draw people together, which is a positive thing. You're able to use those moments for interpersonal relationships".  An engaged employee can increase earnings per share by 28% and an overall higher engaged company can expect a 13% lower turnover rate than a less engaged company.  Actively engaging employees in activities outside of the normal work flow can be a positive for everyone within the company.  So this March, embrace the madness and start an office pool and engage your employees.

On January 18, 2011, All Star Incentive Marketing and Dillard’s collectively received the Grand Motivation Masters Award from Incentives Magazine – a leading publication devoted to motivation and performance improvement through the use of incentive programs and consumer promotions.

The importance of employee engagement as it relates to safety is addressed in a brief article titled “Turn Apathy into Engagement” in the February 2011 issue of Industrial Safety & Hygiene News.  The article succinctly calls out several of the connection points.  I have pasted the best paragraph in the article below with the link to the full article below that.