Heard on the Street

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AFTER-HOLIDAY JUMP-START|ret||ret||tab|

It takes the average employee a day and a half to return to normal productivity after a vacation, according to a survey of 150 executives of the nation's 1,000 largest companies. OfficeTeam, a staffing services company from Menlo Park, Calif., offered these tips to jump-start employees: have them plan the first day back with meetings with key staff and lunch out of the office the added structure will help; minimize chit-chat by giving a quick synopsis of the holiday and provide more details after work or during a break; take an extra day off to adjust, especially if the holiday was in another time zone; and before leaving, change voice- and e-mail greetings to give contact information for a colleague to assist with urgent issues.|ret||ret||tab|

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UNITED WAY TO GO!|ret||ret||tab|

From dog washes to bake sales, the money came in as Ozarkers once again showed that they have hearts as big as all outdoors. After reaching deep into their pockets for the Sept. 11 terrorism victims and their families, area residents dug even deeper and exceeded the United Way's goal of $3.2 million. John Rush, organization president, attributed much of the response to the leadership of Gary Gibson, campaign chairman. "Our volunteers saw what he was putting into the campaign. People just wanted to succeed because of Gary's leadership." The final amount raised was $3,202,136. "Usually we get the funds we raise through payroll deduction. This year they had to do more than that and they came through," Rush said. Besides the abovementioned dog washes, the community of Bolivar held a gospel song program as a fund-raiser, and ANPAC hosted a car show. "Great campaigns came from employees at Southwest Missouri State University, city of Springfield, St. John's (usually the largest contributor) this year the public service employees really came through, and that made all the difference," Rush said.|ret||ret||tab|

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THANKS BBC|ret||ret||tab|

Although it probably doesn't bring another penny or pence to their pockets, the folks at the British Broadcasting Company are showing support for the United States and the international battle against terrorism right on your cable television station. At the bottom right hand of the TV screen on the BBC network, the Brits run up the Union Jack right alongside our Stars and Stripes as their station identification. Together they wave in unison in a remarkable display of solidarity.|ret||ret||tab|

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EDUCATE FUTURE EMPLOYEES |ret||ret||tab|

Since regional employers in survey after survey have agreed that educated employees are necessary to operate a good business, why not start early by providing books to children? The 53 libraries of the R-XII School District are still 32,000 books short of what's needed to help children become good students and later on, good employees. David Harrison, chairman of Reading Roundup, has is-sued a challenge to local employers to launch drives where they will meet their employees' donations to buy books. "Barnes & Noble displays a list of hardback titles that librarians want," Harrison said in a news release, adding that they are available at a 20 percent discount. "Those books and any others on the list, no matter where they are purchased, also go directly to the libraries that request them." Reading Roundup, although not an organization as such, is a community-supported effort directed by a steering committee with members from the Springfield Public Schools Foundation, Springfield News-Leader, KOLR-10, KTTS 94.7, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and the school district. Direct donations may be made to the schools' foundation at 940 N. Jefferson. |ret||ret||tab|

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SLICE OF NICE|ret||ret||tab|

Time to get out your parkas and running shoes for the third annual 5-K Holiday Fun Run Dec. 1. Presented by the Drury University Student Union Board as a fund-raiser for Uni-ted Way, the race will follow a route around Drury's campus and mid-town. Participants will have the chance to view the construction changes in the area from the Central High School expansion to the ongo-ing work for Drury's new Trus-tee Science Center, set to open next fall. There also are three recently completed fraternity houses, according to Tristan Davies, Drury information officer, as well as the relocated Washington Avenue Baptist Church. Participants may pre-register by calling Carah Pat-terson at 417-873-7728 or Ryan Birlew at 417-873-4035. Or they may register on-site at 9 a.m. for the 10 a.m. race. Par-ticipants will be asked to pay a $5 registration fee and each will receive a race T-shirt. Prizes in-clude a trophy and gift certificates.[[In-content Ad]]