Are your employees simply showing up most days? Half of all workers hate their jobs. Wait, scratch that: let's be more precise. According to a new survey by The Conference Board, a non-profit organization that studies business issues, just 51% of all American workers say they are satisfied with their jobs. That figure stood at 59% just seven years ago. Perhaps most alarming, workers aged 35-44 had the highest level of satisfaction in 1995 (at 61%) - but today have the lowest (at 47%). READ MORE

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL recently confirmed what many long have suspected - namely, that "Online job boards have lost their cachet." (July 12, 2005) Why? According to the Journal, they are yielding "landslides of r'esum'es" that mostly come from unqualified candidates. "The trick - something that executive-search firms and headhunters have known for decades - is that the perfect candidate is usually working happily at a desk somewhere." The Journal is exactly right. READ MORE

Although hotels, conference centers and meeting planners may not be taking the smoke-free phenomenon as far as some, they are finding that going smoke-free is quickly becoming the norm. Some companies in business and leisure industries are taking the lead and acting on the health concerns of its delegates. This year, the Westin hotel chain, for example, officially implemented the widest-spread complete smoking ban in the hotel industry, making 77 of its properties completely smoke-free. The conference center industry is also closing in on the trend. READ MORE

Spa is being embraced by a broadening spectrum of consumers, growing beyond traditional demographic profiles and target audiences. As a result, the industry has responded with more choice, offering an array of business models and branded spa concepts that address these niche consumer segments. This of course is a boon for hotel owners, developers and operators in terms of identifying the ideal spa solution for a property's amenity platform. It also makes choosing the ideal spa partner a very critical part of the equation READ MORE

Up until recently, attending a business conference may have also meant long sedentary periods of physical inactivity-sitting in airports, sitting on planes and even more sitting in conference room meetings. The dining experience, often didn't work to enhance healthfulness, consisting of high-calorie snacks and meals that may have sustained participants' energy levels, but didn't necessarily sustain their waist lines. The recent trend toward the greening of the conference center and hotel industry has also come to include the 'greening of guests.' Conference centers are taking a holistic approach to sustaining the environment that not only involves incorporating environmentally friendly paper products, building and cleaning materials, and lighting and landscaping, but also a commitment to providing the highest quality foods that sustain a healthy lifestyle and help the planet. READ MORE