Admit it: When you purchase a new piece of office equipment, you buy something that fits your business needs, and then you maintain it for long life. But do you always set up your flesh-and-blood assets for the same level of success?

You can do lots of things to make sure you hire and retain the right people for your company. An employee's first impression with a company makes all the difference, and a proper orientation can provide the opportunity to communicate and gather important information in a short amount of time.

By learning better communications skills, offering incentives, and providing a work environment that is in balance with your employees' lives outside of work, you can make your office more productive and more successful than ever before.

And to make sure you don't work too hard getting the best results, organize your efforts efficiently. Cut the communication task in half by sending e-mail to custom distribution lists instead of individual contacts. Save commonly used announcements and messages into Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 templates for use over and over again.

The links below take you to tools and information designed to help you get the most out of managing your office employees.

• Prevent employee turnover (Article)
  Learn how positive feedback, open communication, and work/life programs can help you retain valuable employees.
• Employee orientation presentation (Template)
  Start off new hires on the right foot with the information they need to be successful.
• Employee information form (Template)
  Keep important employee information close at hand by using one form that contains personal, employee, and emergency information.
• Create an e-mail template (Article)
  Save time on repetitive office communications by using distribution lists and reusable e-mail text.