Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board plans to spend more than $173,000 on training that will make workers “friendlier” and “more well-mannered” at the 650 statewide stores it operates.

Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Solutions 21 has been hired to coach store managers and employees to say common things like “hello,” “thank you,” and “have a nice day” to customers. In addition, the training will teach workers when the best time to greet customers is and how far they should stand away when doing so.

The expensive training is drawing fire from around the Keystone State. Political activist Eric Epstein said the training was “a demented interpretation of happy hour.” He went on to claim, “it’s a sad state of affairs when you have to train people to be kind and courteous.”

Here are ways to ensure you’re delegating work and responsibility the right way — to the right people:

1. Find the right fit. When it comes to delegating work, it’s important to look past a job title and focus on the skills the employee brings to the table.
Don’t be afraid to pass over an employee with a higher job title for one whose skills match up more clearly with the task at hand.

2. Stay on the same page. Before delegating any tasks to an employee, make sure you’re both on the same page.
Example: If you ask an an accountant to host the monthly budget meeting, it’s vital that he or she understands exactly what the goals are.
One way: Ask the employee to tell you – in his or her own words – exactly what the meeting will cover and what he or she will accomplish with it.

3. Touch base often. It’s important to check in frequently after delegating work to Finance staffers. Ask questions like, “Is there anything else you need from me?” or “Is that deadline feasible?”

4. Let them take the lead. While you need to check in, it’s even more important to back off and let workers go ahead with the actual legwork.

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Here are three Twitter entries that ensured the respective authors would be tweeting from the unemployment lines:

1. “I am currently trying to decide what disease to fake so I can leave work early.”
2. “Work was crappy today, my boss is a stupid idiot.”
3. “I’ve been sleeping with my boss for years, and I haven’t gotten a promotion yet.”

Know of any others? Share them in our comments section.

Think it’s great that you (and your staffers) can juggle three or four things at a time and still get the job done? Think again.

Turns out multitasking may be one of the worst things for performance. In fact, it pretty much assures sub-par performance when compared to folks who focus on one task at a time.

That’s just been confirmed by a recent study out of Stanford University.

Researchers there had people fill out a questionnaire based on how many tasks they performed simultaneously, from surfing the Web to listening to music to word processing.

What they found:

• Multitaskers had a much tougher time filtering out distractions (which are a fact of life in finance departments), and
• They also had greater difficulty remembering certain things and even “misremembered” things – which could spell disaster when you’re dealing with the company’s cash.

Not only that, but in the one skill you’d think multitasking cultivated in people – the ability to shift from one task to another – habitual multitaskers were much slower than their non-juggling counterparts.

The study has big implications for finance staffers in companies of all sizes and in all industries, who are being asked to shoulder more and more these days.

Things like listening to an iPod while keying in invoices or simultaneously auditing expense reports and working on that month-end report could lead to bigger headaches down the road.

Bottom line: While sometimes it’s unavoidable, multitasking doesn’t make you more efficient. Whenever possible, it’s better to get in the habit of taking it one task at a time.

Do you agree? Share your opinion on multitasking here.

While the engagement levels of all workers have dropped by 9% over the past year, it’s top performers who are the most dissatisfied with their current situation. These employees have experienced a 25% drop in loyalty and motivation.

These findings are courtesy of a recent Watson Wyatt survey.

What’s worse: These employees are 14% less likely to stay with their current employer once the market improves.

Combine these findings with other research that says most workers are planning to ask for a raise once the economy recovers, and it’s clear that employers have to take action soon.

Here are two strategies to help retain valued staffers:

1. Make retention efforts transparent. Most employers do everything they possibly can to retain top talent. Where they fall short: making sure employees are aware of all of their retention efforts.
2. Talk out salary decisions with staffers. If raises, bonuses, etc., aren’t an option right now, show employees why — and be as honest and detailed as possible in your explanation.

While agents will be looking for an array of violations, they’re really targeting Form 1099 independent contractors who should be classified as regular employees.

And firms who are caught violating this are likely to receive hefty back tax bills and sizable fines.

IRS agents are also hoping to sniff out tax rule violations for exec pay and fringe benefits.

The random nature of these audits includes all companies — regular C corporations, S corps, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), etc. — across all industry types.

According to the IRS’s chief of employment tax operations in the Small Business/Self-Employed Division, John Tuzynski, the audits will be conducted based on Form 941 and then they will work backward.

In addition to sterling documentation, doing an internal audit in the targeted areas may help ensure A/P and Payroll are thoroughly prepared should the IRS come knocking.

Joel Rubin of Plainville, CT, was apprehended after he tried to use a fellow employee’s stolen credit card a second time.

After stealing the card from his co-worker’s locker at the unnamed retail establishment, police say Rubin made a single, small purchase to test that the transaction would go through without a problem.

He then made an $11 second purchase, but made the mistake using his own store discount card to save a few dollars on the transaction.

Police are charging Rubin with third-degree identity theft, two counts of credit card theft, and receipt of illegal goods.

When Utah started closing its state offices on Fridays (requiring state employees to work 10 hour days on Mon.-Thurs.), it was hoping to reduce energy costs. With the move, Utah became the first state in U.S. to shut down most of its services on Fridays.

In terms of energy costs, the state only hit 1/6 ($502,000) of the $3 million savings benchmark.

Where it did save: Overtime pay.

By increasing the workday from eight to 10 hours, most state employees didn’t really feel like sticking around to work extra OT hours.

Result: $4.1 million in savings during the first year of the government’s four-day week.

The idea seems to be gaining steam. In addition to Utah, Hawaii tried a limited four-day workweek in the fall of ’08, as did Washington state. Recently, West Virginia and Virginia have begun looking into adopting a four-day week.

We’ll keep you posted.

At least that what Aubrey C. Daniels believes.

Daniels, a world-renowned expert on management and human performance, is a harsh critic of how most organizations pay, appraise, reward and recognize its employees.

In his book, “Oops! 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money (And what to do instead),” Daniels takes aim at the worst managerial strategies.

Listed below are three strategies to avoid — and what to do instead:

• Employee of the Month — or other comparable recognition programs. This practice promotes the idea (usually falsely) that one employee is solely responsible for a company’s success.
  What works better: Recognizing everyone who was part of a success as soon as it happens — instead of on a predetermined date each month.
• Setting unrealistic goals for employees. When workers can’t hit these benchmarks, they become overwhelmed, frustrated and unnecessarily stressed.
  What works better: Set small, more realistic goals on a more persistent basis. It also helps to map out employees’ progress on a month by month basis.
• An employee-ranking system. The problem here stems from employees being grouped — some on the top and others on the bottom — even when their abilities aren’t all that different. The employees that rank toward the bottom often end up feeling like failures — and not performing as efficiently.
  What works better: Hold all employees accountable for hitting certain performance targets.

To view Daniels’ complete list of the 13 most ineffective managerial strategies, click here.