Why Companies Should Force Employees to Unplug

The Cash Store Financial Services Inc. is seeking an appeal hearing after the registrar for payday loans in Ontario issued a proposal to revoke the Edmonton-based firm’s lending licences.

(Northwest dad)

Lots of people don't respond to emails anymore. This has New York Times reporter Alina Tugend wigged out. So asked a bunch of her friends why it's happening.

You get to the office, settle in to tackle the day’s workload, and start checking email. An hour a half later, you’ve barely made a dent. If you are working at a company with over 20 staff, statistics show that a whopping 46 percent, So nearly half of your daily inbox, could be sent from an internal source. The next inbox filler is where you are just  copied in on a message, and another 47 were documents for his review.

For more than six years, Tammy Saunders has woken at 5:30 a.m., showered, dressed and walked upstairs – to her office. A nurse practitioner, Saunders works as a case manager for Hartford, Connecticut-based health insurer Aetna Inc, helping college students recovering from accidents or surgery get the follow-up services they need. The bonuses? No ironing, no commute and no need for after-school care for the kids. Also, less chatting with other employees – so fewer distractions.

Jim Balsillie went from hero to zero, and once again, the hapless board at BlackBerry Ltd. has demonstrated why it’s still a poster child for poor corporate governance.

In a repeat of a trend from last year, many retailers have rolled out special last-minute shipping deals for procrastinating consumers who finally want to get their shopping done—only without going to the store, and without paying for shipping. Sure, at this stage in the e-commerce game, when free shipping is fairly commonplace, the prospect of complimentary shipping isn’t that exciting. For true bargain hunters, the bar has been set higher—say, with the likes of free shipping and 40% off sitewide.