You’re the Boss Blog: Is It O.K. to Be a Mediocre Employee?

There is an art to distinguishing between a good employee who makes a mistake and a mediocre employee who does not accept responsibility.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March, and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.2%, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in manufacturing, food services, and health care, but was down in retail trade. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from +284,000 to +275,000, and the change for February was revised from +227,000 to +240,000 (together this adds just 4,000 more jobs brining the total added jobs with this report to 124,000.

In November the government backed independent Employee Engagement task force launched a new movement ­ ‘Engage for Success’, its mission is to be an inspirational force to drive measurable improvement in employee performance, creativity and innovation. Engage for Success firmly believes that the next generation of successful businesses will be those that free the potential of people within them. Their hope is that employee engagement can release more of the capability and potential of people at work enabling personal growth,

Although many organisations believe that they will incur significant costs if they offer employee benefits, the reality is that the more benefits an employer takes, the more savings the company can generate for its business and employees. The future of business I suspect that too many organisations are overlooking the future of their staff at present. Today, attracting and retaining staff may not seem to be high on the agenda with the economy and job market static.

Want to have more productive meetings? Sure you do. Ex-Microsoft Windows boss Steven Sinofsky just posted a long blog that tells you how.

It is hard to get definitive answers to important questions about lending, but the author - a new contributor to You're the Boss - hopes to help.

Brian Polino submits:It was only after traveling across the heartland of America that I recognized the true value of a durable competitive advantage. On my way to the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) Annual Meeting, it was hard not to see a Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) distribution truck every time you scanned the road’s horizon.

After rejecting the proposals twice, the House of Lords yesterday voted in favour of plans which will see workers give away employment rights in exchange for receiving shares worth between £2,000 and £50,000 in their company.