End column finishing forever
with Sonotube® Finish
Free® concrete forms
Sonotube® Finish Free® forms eliminate costly
column grinding, patching and manual finishing.
Check
www.sonotube.com for more information.
Uni-Ply Handset Panel System
Provides for quick assembly and is lightweight and easy
to maintain throughout multiple uses
• Exact corner joints eliminate tolerance build-up
over large areas
•
Standard 100/30 ½” HDO plywood is riveted to angle
struts
• Plywood tolerance is closely maintained to assure long form life.
•
Angle struts are spaced on 12” centers to provide strength,
uniform concrete and minimize deflection
• Handles are provided on panels for easy handling in setting and stripping
forms
•
Optional Xact2form® upgrade to 220/220 Overlay enables hundreds
of re-uses with 100% Birch plywood panels (shown in picture)
Universal Building Products, Inc. delivers
a complete assortment of premium concrete accessories to residential
and commercial
projects
throughout the country. UBP is your single source for all concrete
construction needs including, forming systems, chemicals, tilt-up
and
pre-cast lifting systems, hardware, inserts and anchors.
For over 30 years C.I.M. Industries Inc. has been keeping
liquids where they belong with a product line that delivers long-term
solutions to virtually every containment and waterproofing need.
CIM’s two component urethane products bond aggressively to
a wide variety of substrates including asphalt, concrete, steel and
wood. CIM is applied by spray, squeegee or roller, curing quickly
to form a resilient flexible coating that is UV stable, voc compliant,
ANSI/NSF61 approved for potable water contact, and designed for constant
immersion in aqueous solutions.
Our new CIM 2000 material is 100% solids containing
no voc’s and has recently passed ASTM E108/UL 790 spread
of flame testing and ANSI/NSF 61 Potable Water Testing. CIM 2000
like the rest of the product line is designed for constant immersion
applications and exhibits excellent chemical resistance to acids
and bases.
CIM materials have been successfully used for coating
and lining applications for many markets, including, water and wastewater
facilities, primary and secondary chemical containment, waterproofing,
pond and fountains, and cooling tower restoration.
For more information, contact any New South Construction
Supply branch or visit the CIM website at www.cimindustries.com to
view their entire product line ranging from their CIM 1000 asphalt
modified urethane to their new 100% solids CIM 2000 urethane materials.
Why bad management is (really) expensive
and good management (really) makes money
by Judith Bardwick
How people feel about their jobs and their company does matter – to
the bottom line. Here is a small sampling of the significant data affirming
the
link between feelings and financial results:
The one-third of employees who are alienated from their companies will
actively seek a new job within two years, and 50 percent will find a
new employer
within five. Companies with high turnover pay a high price. Replacing
critical clerical
and front-line customer service workers costs about 50 percent of their
annual pay. The figure for executives soars to 200 percent of their base
salary.
Gallup, the world’s leader in opinion polls, has done
extensive studies of employee engagement, drawing on a database of 4.5 million
workers in
12 industries. Among its findings: an astonishing 80 percent of employees
do
not care about their employer. In the majority of organizations, about
60 percent
of employees work only enough to keep their jobs and another 20 percent
would hurt the organization if they could.
In a study of over 1,000 companies with 500 or more employees,
the international consulting group Towers Perrin documented a “statistically significant
correlation” between how employees felt about work and shareholder return
over a five-year span. The more positively employees felt, the higher the companies’ profits
and share price.
To quantify the relationship between how an organization relates
to its people and how those practices relate to financial results,
the
global
consulting
firm Watson Wyatt created the Human Capital Index (HCI). The firm
devoted two years to administering HCI surveys to 51 organizations
in the United
States
and Europe, and then compared the results with each participant’s
five-year total returns to shareholders. Organizations with low HCI
scores averaged
a 21 percent total return while those with high HCI scores averaged
an impressive 64 percent return.
Vanderbilt University and Hewitt Associates, human resource
consultants, studied the financial performances of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to
Work For” from 1998 to 2003. The companies recognized for their investment
in people dramatically outperformed their industry competitors, with cumulative
stock returns averaging 50 percent above the market norm. The trend continues.
The publicly traded companies on Fortune’s 2007 list of “100 Best
Companies to Work For” consistently beat the market over the
preceding 10 years.
Nurturing employee commitment and engagement
Commitment is what
makes people say, “I’m proud
to be working here; it’s exactly where I belong.” Engagement
is what makes them say, “What
we do matters. Let’s go!” Just imagine what your
organization could accomplish if all employees had that attitude.
Here’s
a proven three-part strategy to help you lead your people to
that level of passionate involvement:
1) Ask the right questions
Ask your front-line workers, support staffers, managers and yourself
these questions:
What do we do as an organization that is a real
source of pride for us?
What happens to our people and our customers
because of what we do?
In what ways are we improving people’s lives?
What are our key values?
Do we make sure that our leaders exemplify what
we say we stand for?
Do we “walk the talk” and act in line with our values
and mission?
Then, pay close attention to the answers. Every resounding “yes” must
be visible throughout the organization, and every “no” calls
for major change.
2) Hire the right people
Experts have identified six personal qualities shared by people
who are likely to become engaged employees. Take advantage
of standard personality
tests
(most HR departments have them) to determine whether job
applicants have the characteristics
and outlook to contribute to, and fit in with, a culture
of commitment and engagement. Highly engaged employees demonstrate:
• Emotional maturity
• Positive disposition
• Adaptability
• Self-efficacy
• Passion for work
• Achievement orientation
3) Measure the right attributes
Discerning what people feel provides
much more valuable information about the organization than learning what they
think. To gauge their
emotional temperatures, regularly ask employees open-ended questions. For
instance, “How would
you describe your relationship with your boss?” Forget morale and satisfaction
surveys. These widely used assessments of a manager’s
performance reveal little of substance and reinforce a
sense of entitlement
in employees.
Adapted from ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR: How to Combat the Psychological
Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting
American Business by Judith M. Bardwick, Ph.D. (Published
by AMACOM Books;
October 2007; $24.95 Hardcover;
ISBN: 978-0-8144-8058-8).
