If you've watched her wave a flag for five hours and still need more Adriana Lima, here's her Telefora ad that's airing Sunday on the Super Bowl. Her advice to men for Valentine's Day? Give flowers, get sex in return. The talking-flowers commercials from recent Super Bowls were pretty amusing, but clearly this company is done trying to be clever and will now just give men a concrete reason for making a romantic gesture. Kia and Teleflora could both owe Lima a giant bouquet of flowers after Sunday.

See Adweek's full Super Bowl coverage here.

Ready to win some amazing business books? Of course you are!  Now through February 7, 2012, you can enter to win business books like:

• I Love You More Than My Dog by Jeanne Bliss
• It’s Your Biz by Susan Solovic
• Visual Marketing by Anita Campbell and David Langton
• Social Media Marketing eLearning Kit For Dummies by Phyllis Khare
• The Entrepreneur Equation by Carol Roth

The Big Biz Book Giveaway is being held in conjunction with the Small Business Book Awards.  Many of the books we’re giving away are also nominees in the book awards, so be sure to vote for them now through February 16, 2012.

How to Enter

You can enter to win the book contest each day through February 7, 2012 by sending a tweet that includes the hashtag #BizBookAwardsWin. While most of the giveaways are for the United States or North America only, there is one for International winners on February 7, 2012, so be sure to check the day’s listing.

What: Big Biz Book Giveaway

When: January 31, 2012 through February 7, 2012

Where: Twitter

How to enter: Just send a Tweet that includes the hashtag #BizBookAwardsWin to enter or simply click the “Click here to tweet” link below to be entered:

Click here to tweet

You can also copy and paste the Tweet provided below into Twitter to enter:

I’m entering to win the Biz Book #Giveaway! Just tweet #BizBookAwardsWin to enter to win great biz books today http://ow.ly/8Q72h 

Good luck!

From Small Business Trends

Enter to Win: The Big Biz Book Giveaway

If you've watched her wave a flag for five hours and still need more Adriana Lima, here's her Telefora ad that's airing Sunday on the Super Bowl. Her advice to men for Valentine's Day? Give flowers, get sex in return. The talking-flowers commercials from recent Super Bowls were pretty amusing, but clearly this company is done trying to be clever and will now just give men a concrete reason for making a romantic gesture. Kia and Teleflora could both owe Lima a giant bouquet of flowers after Sunday.

See Adweek's full Super Bowl coverage here.

Clay Matthews is a Green Bay Packers linebacker and a self described “average American with extraordinary hair.” And now he wants to see if you too, can have Hair Like Clay. Matthews has teamed up with Suave for Men hair …

How do your employees feel about their jobs? For a small business owner, the answer to this question is crucial. Employees who are happy at work and passionately engaged with their jobs are more loyal to their employers, more productive and just plain better for your business.

A recent study of employee job satisfaction and engagement has some useful insights for entrepreneurs. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2011 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report, which surveyed companies of all sizes in late 2011, found that while more than 75 percent of U.S. employees are satisfied with their jobs overall, there are some key areas of dissatisfaction.

Paying attention to these areas could mean the difference between keeping and losing valuable workers.

A whopping 83 percent of U.S. employees said that overall, they are satisfied with their current jobs. SHRM vice president for research Mark Schmit notes that in general, this percentage hasn’t changed significantly in the last 10 years. Schmit says:

“In general, people find ways to be satisfied at work.”

But while you might think that in a tough job market, people would feel that just having a job at all is reason to be satisfied, in reality the percentage of satisfied employees has decreased slightly since 2009.

One key area where employees are less than satisfied is career development. Only about 40 percent of respondents say they are satisfied with the career development and advancement opportunities at their current jobs.

For the first time, the survey also looked at employee engagement. Engagement differs from satisfaction. While satisfaction depends primarily on job security, engagement measures how committed employees are to the workplace and how connected they feel. When it comes to engagement, there’s room for improvement. Just 52 percent of employees feel completely engaged at work; only 53 percent say they enjoy going above and beyond what their jobs require.

While these aren’t horrible numbers, I’m sure you agree that having all of your employees fully engaged in their work is the ideal state. So how can you improve things?

Schmit theorizes the disengagement is because employees feel they aren’t being groomed for the future:

“Employees seem to be saying, “I’m not getting training or opportunities for development, so why would I volunteer to do extra things to advance my career by helping out the organization?”

Small business owners often worry that the only thing their employees care about is raises and other financial rewards—which are tough for a small business to offer in this economy. The good news from the SHRM findings is that training and advancement opportunities are easier to offer.

True, you may not have immediate advancement opportunities for employees. But you can offer training. Here are some ideas:

• Cross-train employees so they learn new skills. This also benefits your business, since employees can fill in for each other when there’s an absence or vacation.
• Set up informal mentorships where more experienced employees show younger ones the ropes.
• Look into free or low-cost training and education programs at local community colleges or adult education centers.
• Meet with employees to figure out their career paths. As a small business owner, you have more flexibility to design jobs that take advantage of your team’s skills and desires.

Are you worried that you’ll institute training efforts, only to see those employees leave for greener pastures? Dissatisfied employees will leave when the job market improves—whether you’ve trained them or not. Then you’ll have to train their replacements. Isn’t it better to invest the time and effort in the employees you have now and keep them on your team?

Engage with your employees, and their engagement will increase, too.

Employee Training Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Employees Are Satisfied With Their Jobs: Or Are They?

General Electric is jumping into this year's Super Bowl lineup with the two :45s below, focusing on GE employees and how the company helps keep the economy moving and other businesses and whole communities humming. In one spot, GE employees in Louisville's Appliance Park show how the company is changing the way appliances are manufactured in the U.S. In the other spot, GE employees in Schenectady, N.Y., discuss how they help power cities, schools, businesses and even beer. The ads from BBDO New York, inspirational in tone and airing in the first and third quarters, follow similar though longer spots that were posted to YouTube in November, showing GE employees visiting cancer patients and seeing their aviation creations in flight. One other Super Bowl advertiser that will be pleased about this GE campaign is Anheuser-Busch. The Schenectady spot has a whole scene about Budweiser.

See Adweek's full Super Bowl coverage here.

General Electric is jumping into this year's Super Bowl lineup with the two :45s below, focusing on GE employees and how the company helps keep the economy moving and other businesses and whole communities humming. In one spot, GE employees in Louisville's Appliance Park show how the company is changing the way appliances are manufactured in the U.S. In the other spot, GE employees in Schenectady, N.Y., discuss how they help power cities, schools, businesses and even beer. The ads from BBDO New York, inspirational in tone and airing in the first and third quarters, follow similar though longer spots that were posted to YouTube in November, showing GE employees visiting cancer patients and seeing their aviation creations in flight. One other Super Bowl advertiser that will be pleased about this GE campaign is Anheuser-Busch. The Schenectady spot has a whole scene about Budweiser.

See Adweek's full Super Bowl coverage here.

How do your employees feel about their jobs? For a small business owner, the answer to this question is crucial. Employees who are happy at work and passionately engaged with their jobs are more loyal to their employers, more productive and just plain better for your business.

A recent study of employee job satisfaction and engagement has some useful insights for entrepreneurs. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2011 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report, which surveyed companies of all sizes in late 2011, found that while more than 75 percent of U.S. employees are satisfied with their jobs overall, there are some key areas of dissatisfaction.

Paying attention to these areas could mean the difference between keeping and losing valuable workers.

A whopping 83 percent of U.S. employees said that overall, they are satisfied with their current jobs. SHRM vice president for research Mark Schmit notes that in general, this percentage hasn’t changed significantly in the last 10 years. Schmit says:

“In general, people find ways to be satisfied at work.”

But while you might think that in a tough job market, people would feel that just having a job at all is reason to be satisfied, in reality the percentage of satisfied employees has decreased slightly since 2009.

One key area where employees are less than satisfied is career development. Only about 40 percent of respondents say they are satisfied with the career development and advancement opportunities at their current jobs.

For the first time, the survey also looked at employee engagement. Engagement differs from satisfaction. While satisfaction depends primarily on job security, engagement measures how committed employees are to the workplace and how connected they feel. When it comes to engagement, there’s room for improvement. Just 52 percent of employees feel completely engaged at work; only 53 percent say they enjoy going above and beyond what their jobs require.

While these aren’t horrible numbers, I’m sure you agree that having all of your employees fully engaged in their work is the ideal state. So how can you improve things?

Schmit theorizes the disengagement is because employees feel they aren’t being groomed for the future:

“Employees seem to be saying, “I’m not getting training or opportunities for development, so why would I volunteer to do extra things to advance my career by helping out the organization?”

Small business owners often worry that the only thing their employees care about is raises and other financial rewards—which are tough for a small business to offer in this economy. The good news from the SHRM findings is that training and advancement opportunities are easier to offer.

True, you may not have immediate advancement opportunities for employees. But you can offer training. Here are some ideas:

• Cross-train employees so they learn new skills. This also benefits your business, since employees can fill in for each other when there’s an absence or vacation.
• Set up informal mentorships where more experienced employees show younger ones the ropes.
• Look into free or low-cost training and education programs at local community colleges or adult education centers.
• Meet with employees to figure out their career paths. As a small business owner, you have more flexibility to design jobs that take advantage of your team’s skills and desires.

Are you worried that you’ll institute training efforts, only to see those employees leave for greener pastures? Dissatisfied employees will leave when the job market improves—whether you’ve trained them or not. Then you’ll have to train their replacements. Isn’t it better to invest the time and effort in the employees you have now and keep them on your team?

Engage with your employees, and their engagement will increase, too.

Employee Training Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Employees Are Satisfied With Their Jobs: Or Are They?

How do your employees feel about their jobs? For a small business owner, the answer to this question is crucial. Employees who are happy at work and passionately engaged with their jobs are more loyal to their employers, more productive and just plain better for your business.

A recent study of employee job satisfaction and engagement has some useful insights for entrepreneurs. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2011 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Research Report, which surveyed companies of all sizes in late 2011, found that while more than 75 percent of U.S. employees are satisfied with their jobs overall, there are some key areas of dissatisfaction.

Paying attention to these areas could mean the difference between keeping and losing valuable workers.

A whopping 83 percent of U.S. employees said that overall, they are satisfied with their current jobs. SHRM vice president for research Mark Schmit notes that in general, this percentage hasn’t changed significantly in the last 10 years. Schmit says:

“In general, people find ways to be satisfied at work.”

But while you might think that in a tough job market, people would feel that just having a job at all is reason to be satisfied, in reality the percentage of satisfied employees has decreased slightly since 2009.

One key area where employees are less than satisfied is career development. Only about 40 percent of respondents say they are satisfied with the career development and advancement opportunities at their current jobs.

For the first time, the survey also looked at employee engagement. Engagement differs from satisfaction. While satisfaction depends primarily on job security, engagement measures how committed employees are to the workplace and how connected they feel. When it comes to engagement, there’s room for improvement. Just 52 percent of employees feel completely engaged at work; only 53 percent say they enjoy going above and beyond what their jobs require.

While these aren’t horrible numbers, I’m sure you agree that having all of your employees fully engaged in their work is the ideal state. So how can you improve things?

Schmit theorizes the disengagement is because employees feel they aren’t being groomed for the future:

“Employees seem to be saying, “I’m not getting training or opportunities for development, so why would I volunteer to do extra things to advance my career by helping out the organization?”

Small business owners often worry that the only thing their employees care about is raises and other financial rewards—which are tough for a small business to offer in this economy. The good news from the SHRM findings is that training and advancement opportunities are easier to offer.

True, you may not have immediate advancement opportunities for employees. But you can offer training. Here are some ideas:

• Cross-train employees so they learn new skills. This also benefits your business, since employees can fill in for each other when there’s an absence or vacation.
• Set up informal mentorships where more experienced employees show younger ones the ropes.
• Look into free or low-cost training and education programs at local community colleges or adult education centers.
• Meet with employees to figure out their career paths. As a small business owner, you have more flexibility to design jobs that take advantage of your team’s skills and desires.

Are you worried that you’ll institute training efforts, only to see those employees leave for greener pastures? Dissatisfied employees will leave when the job market improves—whether you’ve trained them or not. Then you’ll have to train their replacements. Isn’t it better to invest the time and effort in the employees you have now and keep them on your team?

Engage with your employees, and their engagement will increase, too.

Employee Training Photo via Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Employees Are Satisfied With Their Jobs: Or Are They?

The top 5 tips weekly post is always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners.

1. The first step is to work out what the actual problem is. Encourage employees who have issues within your business to speak up about these problems.

2. As the business owner, make sure that you remain impartial in any internal conflict. Don’t get involved in arguments between individuals until you know all the facts.

3. Be prepared to ask people to make concessions in order to reach an agreement that is suitable for all parties.

4. Find out from all parties what their ideal resolution to the conflict would be.

5. Ideally you should aim to prevent conflicts from ever developing in the first place. Take a look at the flashpoints that are causing them to occur and work to remedy them.