Divorce

In the United Kingdom the House of Lords have ruled that two ex-wives are entitled to a share of their wealthy husbands assets.

Previously, divorce settlements for stay-at-home mothers were aimed at providing maintenance based purely on living expenses, the new ruling allows the stay-at-home partner to claim compensation.

Do you think that the elements that are now to be used in determining the financial settlement for a divorce are fair?

Should short marriages be treated any differently to long marriages?

Should marriages that didn't produce children be treated differently to those that did?

Do your sympathies lie with the wage earner or the home maker?

Participate in this weeks free survey Divorce

Terrorist Attacks & Sugical Bombing

The Palestinians have suicide bombers who blow themselves up amid the bustling crowds of Tel Aviv, while the Israelis use rockets fired from unmanned planes into the city centre.

Are both forms of attacks equally abhorrent, or equally justified or does the degree of justification come with the degree of sophistication used by the delivery method?


Participate in this weeks free survey Terrorist Attacks & Sugical Bombing

SEO Expert Or Just A Cowboy?

As a website owner it is perfectly natural to expect your website to rank near the top of the search results. After all, with all that fantastic content that you’ve just spent days and weeks fine-tuning, how could it not be immensely popular?
And as sure as night follows day, when your site fails to make the first page it’s tempting to blame Google, because, how could your beautiful new website be the problem?

So, take a deep breath and read the next line.

It’s not Google’s fault, it’s not your website’s fault: it’s your fault.

Sorry, but you haven’t finished the job. Your next task is going to be challenging, but in this new world, competition is fierce, and to finish the job you’ll need to pay careful attention to the various ways you can claw your site up the rankings.

But don’t despair. You can get help, it even has a name Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and there are plenty of consultants and companies offering SEO services, the only problem is sorting the wheat from the chaff. Luckily for you, you are just about to read The Six Golden Rules for Choosing an SEO consultant.


Golden Rule Number 1: Contacted by an SEO firm? Keep your wits about you!

Although it does not automatically follow that all SEO firms that contact you are just out for a quick buck you should keep your wits about you and be wary of any that do. The majority of good SEO consultants will rather react to an inquiry than spend time trawling the Internet looking for poorly optimized websites.


Golden Rule Number 2: Guarantees are lies – spurn them and the companies that offer them

Okay, as Golden Rules go it is not fair to say that all guarantees are lies, there are a few genuine guarantees that are offered in good faith and as a sign of confidence, nevertheless err on the side of caution and treat them all as you would a suspect standing over a dead body with a smoking gun.

SEO consultants have no control over how the search engines search; they have no influence over the competition and so no matter how much you want it they are not in any position to offer you meaningful guarantees with regards to the results that can be achieved.

There are no 'special relationships' or 'tricks', if you are offered a guarantee, or think yourself covered for insisting on one, it is quite possible that the guarantee offered will be worthless.

Guarantees that are freely offered are generally not what they seem. Anyone with a basic knowledge of SEO will be able to rank you high for an uncompetitive search phrase; being ranked number one for a search phrase that no one is using is as useful and expensive as erecting a billboard in the middle of the Sahara Dessert.

Golden Rule Number 3: Secretive SEO's should be shown the door

Your relationship with an SEO consultant should be similar to that you would expect from your accountant as you are ultimately responsible for your website and the actions of the people that you employ to build and maintain your website.

There is no reason for an SEO consultant not to explain why and what they are doing and they should be prepared to document all that they have done. They should not insert undocumented code and you should be careful of those that want to install their own software; give consideration as to what will happen if you decide at a later date to end you relationship with them.


Golden Rule Number 4: Treat references with a pinch of salt

References are useful but will not always tell the whole story. Ten years is a lifetime in SEO, and it is a subject that is more to do with understanding the 'now' than the 'then'.

Search engines in their current form first started to appear in the mid 90's and a lot has changed in search engine technology which gave birth to the SEO consultant. As the search engines have become more adept at spotting and penalising websites that achieve prominence by stealth rather than merit, so SEO techniques have had to evolve.

Despite the SEO basics being the same for any website how they are applied and to what degree is very dependent on each specific website; its design, maturity, market, purpose, objectives, the type and size of the organization as well as how competitive the market. Some SEO techniques that are relevant and effective for some websites will be irrelevant and ineffective for others.


Golden Rule Number 5: Prepare to be disappointed

Limit your expectations. No matter how good the SEO consultant they will not be able to take you from 'nowhere' to a number one listing overnight. There is no magic bullet that will allow a one page website to permanently out rank a large multi-national, if you believe those that say there are, expect to be disappointed.

SEO takes hard work, time and patience.


Golden Rule Number 6: Are they worthy of your trust

The most important quality to look for in an SEO consultant is trust, as more often than not you will be entrusting your SEO consultant with your business and reputation.


If you are not familiar with SEO speak you need someone who is not going exploit your ignorance, isn't going to shift blame on to others and is going to do things right, with long term objectives, and not implement solutions that offer immediate rewards followed swiftly by long term and serious pain.

A good and trustworthy SEO consultant is worth their weight in gold, like good neighbours; when you have found one, think twice before moving.


Have you got a Champ or a Chimp?

The following is a questionnaire that can be used as an aid to ask potential SEO consultants a number of questions.

Based on how they respond to the questions it will help you root out those that lacks the basic knowledge, expose those that are willing to tell you what you want to hear and identify those that will tell you what you should hear.

It is not recommended that the information you gleam from the questionnaire is used as the sole criteria for evaluating an SEO consultant but it will help identify the SEO cowboy, saving you time, money and heartache.

SEO Expert Or Just A Cowboy?

Music Taste Survey

What is your favourite era for music? Are you a 60's child or only into Zeitgeist music?

Participate in this weeks survey and help us determine the kinds of music that you enjoy listening to and we'll be able to work out, once and for all, which decade really is the most popular for music.


Participate in this weeks free survey Music Taste Survey

CIA Director Nomination

US President Bush has nominated Air Force General Michael Hayden to head the CIA.

Civil rights groups and lawmakers have expressed concern at putting a military man in charge of a civilian agency.

Some Democrat and Republicans Congress members have baulked at the prospect of a general leading the CIA, saying it could give the Pentagon too much influence in intelligence gathering.

President Bush said of General Hayden that he "knows our intelligence community from the ground up and has been both a provider and a consumer of intelligence. He has demonstrated an ability to adapt our intelligence services to the new challenges of the war on terror."

Peter Hoekstra the Republican and chair of House Intelligence Committee has said "I do believe he is the wrong person, in the wrong place at the wrong time"

Do you think that President Bush has picked the right man for the job or does putting a military man in charge of a civilian agency spell danger?

Participate in this weeks free survey CIA Director Nomination

Best Ever Movie Soundtracks

Since the first publicly released talking picture The Jazz Singer (1927) music has been part and parcel of movies.

The movie soundtrack could often carry an otherwise ordinary picture and a classic soundtrack would stick in the minds of the audience long after the pictures had faded from their memory.

Which non-musical movie soundtracks have been your favourite? Choose your top three from our short-list and, if your all time favourite is not there, tell us what it is.

Participate in this weeks free survey Best Ever Movie Soundtracks

Results Analyzer

A beta version of a new facility called the Results Analyzer has now been released. The Results Analyzer will compliment the existing Summary Result and eventually replace the Survey Report facility by providing a number of features including interactive charts, online query options and customised reporting.

While in beta release the Results Analyzer facility will only be made available to members who have a current subscription but when formally released it will be offered as a chargeable option for Pay-As-You-Go members.

For subscribers the Results Analyzer menu option is located on the Survey Details page along with the Summary Results and Detailed Results options.

Pay-As-You-Go members can have a sneak preview of the Results Analayzer, by taking the following sample survey for a test drive Results Analyzer -Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey.

The sample link demonstrates one of the features of Results Analyzer where the results can be configured and third-party access granted.

How should political parties be funded?

In a democracy all political parties require funding to support their campaigns.

In some countries private companies, interest groups and private individuals give vast sums to their chosen party. Is it naive to think that large donations are given with no strings attached?

Do you support the state funding of political parties or the banning, or severe restriction, of advertising campaigns?

Do modern campaigns fail to address the real political issues and stifle intelligent debate?

Participate in this weeks free survey How should political parties be funded?

The Queen at 80 - How do you rate her?

On 21st April 2006 Queen Elizabeth will be 80.

The United Kingdom will officially celebrate and while many will take the opportunity to celebrate her reign, others will find it an appropriate moment to call for the the monarchy to be scrapped.

Is todays monarch just the apex of an invidious pyramid of class distinction, perpetuating privilege and snobbery, or do they represent Britain in a positive light and in way that no political figure could hope to achieve?

Participate in this weeks free survey The Queen at 80 - How do you rate her?

Why Do Good Employee's Leave?

Loosing good employees is not only an expense in terms of time, effort and the associated cost of finding a suitable replacement but also in the untold cost of loosing valuable knowledge and experience that is unique to the organization; Loosing good employees is a problem where prevention is most definitely the best cure.


It is inevitable that employees will leave from time to time but a good employer will want to know why an employee has decided to leave to ensure that personnel are leaving for the right, and not the wrong, reasons.

Concerns of employees can be identified early by the regular use of well designed employee satisfaction surveys, allowing for problems to be resolved and helping to minimize needless loss of staff. However, some problems, especially those that involve personalities, are not always brought to the surface until it is too late.

There are two very common reasons for employee dissatisfaction that can often result in personnel deciding to change jobs, a lack of career development and/or poor management. Both of these problems can be difficult to identify even for organizations that adopt regular 360 degree assessments (i.e. where as part of the overall appraisal system, employees evaluate their managers).

While employed employees can be reluctant to criticize their managers for fear of the consequences, they can however be more candid when completing an exit survey.

Although adopting exit surveys many not prevent individuals from leaving it will help bring to the surface problems that could, if left unchecked, result in poor staff moral for the remaining staff and worse case scenario, a flood of resignations.

Lack of Career Development

Not all employers can offer, and nor do all employees desire, a clear and long term career path. There are just as many people that find comfort and security in doing one job well as there are there are people that need to feel that they are continual being challenged, learning new skills and moving onwards and upwards with respect to the corporate ladder. For organizations to succeed and excel they need the high flyers as well as the steady Eddies of the world.

Where losses due to a lack of career development are occasional they may also be inevitable, but where they are frequent, then changes to the organizational structure might need to be considered to allow for greater career development of the employees.

Poor Management

Many managers achieved their position through promotion, but it does not always follow that a good worker will automatically make a good manager and often people are assigned management position without any formal management training.

Poor managers can be quick to discredit the views of disgruntled staff, 'I was thinking of getting rid of them anyway' and 'they were a waste of space' are typical responses to being asked if there is a problem causing people to leave an organization.

It is proper and natural for senior management to support their line managers by giving them the benefit of any doubt, after all a good managers can always be slighted by poor employees. But by conducting exit surveys, if a man-management problem were to be identified early there is a good chance that it can be addressed and resolved with the appropriate formal training and guidance.

Records

It is not uncommon for people to leave an employer and at a later date put in a claim for constructive dismissal. With 'No win no fee' legal representation this has become a real problem for even good employers. Exit surveys will at best, provide a valuable record of the employee's reasons for leaving, and at worse, provide early warning that a possible claim might be expected.

Unless it is on record a tribunal will not necessarily accept an employer's word that when an employee left they did so without indicating any grievance.

When to conduct an exit survey

Exit surveys can be conducted as part of the termination procedures or they can, with the employee's agreement, be delayed for a few months.

The advantage with delaying an exit survey for a few months is that after a period of reflection a former employee can be less emotional and more objective and if they have taken up another position they may be in a position to compare their previous role with their new role.

The advantages with conducting an exit survey as part of the termination procedure is that although emotions may be running high it is probably more reflective of the employee's state of mind and therefore closer to the reasons they have decided to leave (justified or otherwise). If left until later any comparison between their old and new roles may be the result of them putting on a brave face, and if reasons are given that require action, the delay may well hinder the problem from being resolved.

Summary

Organizations will generally benefit in a number of different ways by including exit surveys as part of their employee termination procedures. They will at the very least provide good records that could prove very valuable later, at best they will provide management with information that can help improve an organization spiritually and with the bottom line.

For a sample Exit survey:

Sample Exit Survey

The Advantages, Considerations and Risks of Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Although there are distinct advantages to conducting regular employee satisfaction surveys online - there can also be risks.

Listed here are some of the main advantages, considerations and the possible risks to conducting employee satisfaction surveys online.

Advantages

Identify Problems - Surveys are can be very effective in identify problems areas before they become serious, especially those that are hidden from senior management.

Working Environment - From something small like a broken chair to the more serious problem of sick building syndrome that can result in personnel experiencing headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; and difficulty in concentrating. Surveys allow environmental problems to be identified in a measured and controlled manner.


Remuneration & Benefits - Measure and monitor how satisfied personnel are with their remuneration and benefits.

Mood and Moral - Provides a simple but effective method to measure and monitor the mood and moral of an organization.

Benchmark - In the same way that an organization will consider their financial position by comparison with previous years, so the regular use of online surveys will allow an organization to monitor and measure their progress and development in non-financial terms.

Processes & Procedures - As businesses evolve some of the traditional processes and procedures can become antiquated, personnel are often the first to know and the last to be asked. Businesses evolve and the business processes need to be regularly re-aligned.

Training - Lack of proper training is a common cause of dissatisfaction among employees and can lead to more serious problems such as stress.

Communication - For an organization to run efficiently good internal and external communications are essential, surveys can provide a method to help organizations to monitor and measure how well an organization communicates.

Goals and Objectives - Surveys can measure and monitor the extent that the personnel are aligned with the senior management's business goals and objectives.

Cost Effective - Using an online survey service such as www.surveygalaxy.com surveys are quick and easy to create, simple to deploy and will provide real-time results.


Compliance - To properly comply with an ever increasing array of regulations the modern organization needs to be able to disseminate information throughout the organization and ensure, through records, that the information has been received, and importantly, understood. Online surveys provide organization with a cost effective method to meet many of their obligations.

Keeping the Initiative - It is always better for management to ask than be told. By conducting regular employee surveys management are able to keep the initiative in trying to identify problems that may otherwise manifest into demands.

Considerations

Management Backing - A survey that is both sanctioned and has the support of senior management will go some way in ensuring that any action required, based on the survey findings, will be implemented.

Ask the right questions - Consider careful the questions being asked. If employees feel that the survey is just trying to tick the right boxes the survey could backfire.

A survey that is to be conducted annually should try and ask questions that will provide senior management with an overall health check of the organization.

Avoid questions that will only apply to specific departments or personnel. If some areas of the organization require detailed investigation consider running separate one-off surveys that can be targeted at specific personnel.

Incentive - Most employees will feel that by being able to give their opinions that they are already stakeholders in the exercise and will be happy to participate in the survey as they will expect to benefit from the process.

However, some incentive may help improve the overall response rate or could be used to encourage early participation.

Smaller incentives could be handed out to all employees or all participating employees could be entered into a lottery to receive a more substantial prize.

Anonymous - The decision to allow respondents to remain anonymous or not needs careful consideration. A survey that is conducted anonymously may allow employees to be more candid, however, anonymity may encourage some individuals to make wild accusations that can not be substantiated and cause considerable concern. When in doubt it is often better to keep everything 'on the record' rather than 'off'.

Where survey respondents are known there is the opportunity to chase for surveys that have not been completed and also to follow up on some issues directly with those employees who have raised them as problems.

Comments - Keep free text comments to a minimum because they are difficult and time consuming to measure and analyze.

Consider limiting free text comments to one at the end of the survey or, in the case of surveys that are not being conducted anonymously, allow for a post-survey follow-up to obtain more information where additional and more specific detail is required.

Risks

Management - Some managers can regard any form of employee consultation as a sign of weakness and may have a tendency to dismiss out of hand any negative comment.

Warts and All - A survey is likely to reveal warts and all. Senior management should be prepared for discovering that the top down view can differ from the bottom up view and that ignorance, of any identified problems, can no longer be used as an excuse.


Non-Action - Many employees will invest time and effort in participating in a survey and their hopes and expectations will be raised. Any post-survey non-action is likely to promote cynicism and jeopardize any future initiatives to obtain employee feedback.

Management should formally respond to the issues raised in surveys even if the demands of employees are not to be met. If senior management agree to address and resolve some issues then action needs to have started before any further survey is scheduled.

Can Cause Problems - Where surveys reveal, or bring problems, to the surface there could be a tendency for senior management to blame the messenger.

Summary

The benefits of conducting regular online employee surveys can be considerable, but for surveys to be effective important upfront considerations need to be made. Although the process of conducting a survey can be therapeutic in itself it is the post-survey analysis, response and action that will ultimately determine how useful and effective the process has been.

For a sample employee satisfaction survey:

Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey

A Manager's Guide To Redundancy

Many British businesses have been slow to appreciate the full extent of changes that have occurred over the years to Employment Law and continue to adopt out of date disciplinary and redundancy procedures. Lucky for them then that the only people who seem less aware of the changes are the employees themselves; few employees would believe the extent that they are now protected, but that is not likely to last.


With the maximum compensatory award in unfair dismissal cases now over £50,000 and with tribunals willing to make awards without any regard to a company's financial position, small to medium sized businesses are most at risk.

Part-time and agency workers now have comparable rights as those enjoyed by full time employees and discrimination now carries a much wider definition, with even more to come.

With the introduction of "no win, no fee" legal representation an employee now has little to loose and much to gain by bringing a claim against a former employer. Tribunals do not operate in the same way as a court of law, the company is not 'not guilty' until proven 'guilty' but rather considered guilty until they can prove otherwise. In the absence of real evidence a tribunal will take anecdotal evidence and decide subjectively for themselves as to who, on balance, they believe.


The redundancy guidelines published by governing bodies and often the advice that is received from employment law specialists is not always as helpful as some businesses might like. Take for example where redundancy guidelines talk of a 'consultation' process, what constitutes consultation is often open to interpretation and what an organisation might itself regard as 'consultation' a tribunal might take as 'a premeditated foregone conclusion'.


This article views the redundancy process from an organisations point of view where senior managers are likely to be under considerable pressure, frustrated and keen to act.


Few people, if any, relish the need for redundancies but often there is a desire from management to get a difficult task over with as quickly as possible so that the organisation can move on. Managers need to be educated in the fact that although following the proper guidelines will take longer than just handing out redundancy notices letters the process can bring benefits to the employer if done properly.

In a redundancy situation companies are able to act with complete autonomy, there is no legislative body looking over their shoulders, monitoring the methods used and in the absence of a trade union, employees are unlikely to be au fait with details of employment law. However, if claims of unfair dismissal are subsequently received the procedures and methods a company adopted will be laid bare and heavily scrutinized and the consequences of inadequate procedures penalised.

A tribunal is not a pleasant place for any company official, with the benefit of hindsight a tribunal will asks difficult questions; what was a real crisis six months earlier may be difficult to convey to people who have no knowledge of the business or in some cases the industry.

Being a good employer who operates in good faith and with genuine intentions is not enough, such employers are more and more finding themselves having to pay substantial compensation to former employees, some of whom may be undeserving but nevertheless know how to play the system.

UK companies are no longer seen as merely providing employment but as being socially responsible and when a company takes on new employees they are assuming more responsibility for that person than many realise.

Today companies have to be very aware of what their responsibilities are and how they must act. For small companies where the owners may be more entrepreneurial, the business more hand to mouth, there is no provision to allow them to operate in any other way than that expected of larger and more established organisations.

Some managers can often make the mistake of thinking that redundancy procedures do not apply to junior staff and will still issue redundancies on the fly, such action will only expose them to a possible claim for unfair dismissal that they will have every chance of loosing.

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To support senior managers we have divised a questionnaire that will guide senior management through the steps required when making redundancies.

By completing the questionnaire a manager will obtain a redundancy procedure checklist and if each step is completed a company can be confident that they will be able to vigorously defend any future unfair redundancy claims they receive.

Manager's Guide To Managing Redundancy in the UK

The England Manager

Whatever happens following the world 2006 cup finals Sven-Göran Eriksson won't be the England manager.

How do you rate Sven's time as the England coach, will you be glad or sorry to see the back of him and who should be next up in the firing line?


Rate Sven-Göran Eriksson and register your vote for the next England Manager

Bush - Would He, Could He, Should He Invade Iran?

In April 2006 the respected investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker wrote that the Bush administration was stepping up covert activities in Iran and was planning for a possible air attack while publicly advocating diplomacy.

President Bush dismissed as "wild speculation" reports that his administration had considered nuclear strikes against sites in Iran to prevent the nation from building nuclear weapons.

Hersh however was adamant that "There's been a lot of planning going on. It's more than planning, it's operational planning. It's beyond contingency planning," and claimed that regular military forces had already infiltrated Iran.

Would President Bush seriously consider attacking Iran, could he, should he?

Participate in this weeks free survey Bush - Would He, Could He, Should He Invade Iran?

The Trial Of Zacarias Moussaoui

Zacarias Moussaoui is the only person to be prosecuted in connection with the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 and has been found by a jury to be eligible for the death penalty.

The 37-year-old French citizen pleaded guilty in April last year to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack aircraft and other crimes.

Moussaoui was in jail during the attacks having been arrested in Minnesota a month before the attacks after arousing suspicion at a flying school. He initially told federal agents he was training as a pilot only for personal enjoyment.

Reports have suggested that Moussaoui would prefer the death penalty rather than life in prison and regards himself as a martyr.

If the death penalty is thought justified should he be executed or made to see the rest of his life out in prison?

Participate in this weeks free survey The Trial Of Zacarias Moussaoui

French Students Protest Controversial Labor Law

Students and young workers have held demonstrations across France against the French government's CPE (First Job Contract)workplace reform.

The Contrat de première embauche legislation allows employers to fire workers under the age of 26 without cause during their first two years of employment.

The government has argued that the reform is necessary to reduce France's youth unemployment rate of 23 percent.

Are the French students and young workers right to protest? Are they too young to worry about job security and is the French Governments right that the policy will encourage more companies to take on young workers?

Participate in this weeks free survey French Students Protest Controversial Labor Law

Is Iraq in Civil War?

Speaking at the White House in March, his second major news conference of 2006, US President George W Bush said that he did not believe Iraq has descended into civil war.

Mr Bush said Iraqis had "had a chance to fall apart and they didn't".

Iraq's former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi however a few days earlier told the BBC 50 to 60 people were dying every day and that the country was in civil war.

Do you think Iraq is currently in a civil war?

Participate in this weeks free survey Is Iraq in Civil War?

The Trial and Death of Slobodan Milosevic

The former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic went on trial on February 12, 2002 before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia(ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands.

Milosevic was charged with 66 counts of war crimes during the 1991-99 Balkan wars, including genocide (in Bosnia) and crimes against humanity, in three indictments covering Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia.

The trial was expected to take two years. After four years and with fifty days of hearing scheduled Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell.

Did he die of natural causes as the tribunals appointed medical team stated, was he murdered as some of his supports are claiming or did he deliberately take his own life?

Can there ever be any real justice when trials last so long?

Participate in this weeks free survey Trial and death of Slobodan Milosevic

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

No matter what we say, and how many different ways we find to say it, many people just do not believe how quick and easy it really is to create surveys using Survey Galaxy until they have seen it with their own eyes.

We would like you to be able to say 'Wow, it really is that easy' so we have created a Quick Start video that we hope will encourage you to join the thousands of others that have already discovered Survey Galaxy.


We have also created the Tutorial Video Centre that contains a number of step by step training videos covering many of Survey Galaxy's advanced features.

The videos may not have been nominated for any Oscars this year but we nevertheless hope that you will enjoy them.

Is Handwriting A Lost Art?

Is handwriting a lost art, and does it matter if it is?

With so many people using the Internet and learning to type, (at least well enough to get by); has email become the most common form of written communication, leaving the handwritten letter to the past?

Handwriting experts would claim to be able to tell a lot from studying someones handwriting, maybe a new bread of expert will emerge that can tell someones personality from their emails?

If you had to write a personal letter to a close friend or relative would you type it or write it?


Participate in this weeks free survey Is Handwriting A Lost Art?