For the PACE Staffing Network our 2011 came to a close on March 31, ending a very successful 12 month business cycle.  2011 was a great year for PACE.  Our revenues grew by 40%, and profits were at a level where our staff enjoyed all time high profit bonuses for the year.  We made several very significant advancements in the technologies we use to deliver service, laying the ground work for more service, more efficiencies in the future.

We want to take this minute to thank all of our employees, supplier partners, contractors and “temps” for their hours of hard work and their very important role in our 2011 success!

Washington State has become the first state in the nation to adopt specific workplace safety rules to protect healthcare workers who are potentially exposed to cancer treatment drugs and other hazardous medications.

One of the long-standing ironies in the health industry has been that chemotherapy drugs that treat cancer can harm the medical providers caring for them.

The same properties that enable chemotherapy drugs to kill cancer cells can also damage normal cells in healthy workers. Without precautions being taken, such as proper ventilation or protective equipment, the preparation, administration, even the disposal of these drugs exposes hundreds of thousands of workers to potentially harmful levels of the chemicals involved.

Washington state’s law, issued earlier this month by Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries, stems from legislation passed in April 2011 and signed into law by Governor Chris Gregoire. The rule applies to healthcare facilities in which employees are “reasonably anticipated” to have “occupational exposure to one or more hazardous drugs.”

The CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a list of about 150 agents that meet their hazardous drug definition. NIOSH estimates that about 5.5 million healthcare workers—-from nurses and pharmacists to housekeepers and veterninary care staff—are potentially exposed to these hazardous agents.

Under the rule, which will take effect beginning in 2014, healthcare facilities with employees who are reasonably anticipated to have exposure to hazardous drugs will be required to develop a hazardous drugs control program. Components of the program include a written inventory of hazardous drugs in the workplace; a hazard assessment; and policies and procedures such as engineering controls, safe handling practices, personal protective equipment, spill control and waste handling.

Healthcare workers’ exposure to chemotherapeutic agents is projected to swell in the years ahead as the US population ages. And chemo drugs themselves have found wider application—in the treatment of arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other diseases—which puts them in a wider array of physicians’ offices. Also, veterinarians are now increasingly using these drugs to treat animals, putting those who work in vet’s offices in contact with chemo.”

The new Washington State workplace safety rule is designed to protect pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, physicians and physician assistants, nurses and patient care assistants, home health care workers, veterinarians and vet techs, housekeeping, laundry, and waste disposal staff in health care facilities, and employees in health care facilities who ship, or receive hazardous drugs from the manufacturer or distributor.

Federal OSHA does not have a specific regulations to address this hazard. In April 2011, about the same time the Washington State legislature was passing the bill to address healthcare workers’ exposure to hazardous medications, OSHA, NIOSH and the accrediting organization The Joint Commission sent a letter to thousands of health care organizations reminding them of this workplace hazard.

Want to know more about the healthcare laws that will affect your business? Contact the experts at PACE Staffing Network today!

Want to get more done at work? The productivity gurus out there will tell you that it’s all about having the right system: Prioritize your tasks, keep detailed time logs, make to-do lists, learn to structure your calendar …

But a system isn’t where you should start. You should start by liking what you do.

The single most efficient way to increase your productivity? Be happy at work! Why is happiness at work the #1 productivity booster? Here are 8 reasons:

1: Happy people work better with others

Happy people are more fun to be around and consequently have better relationships at work. This translates into:

• Better teamwork with colleagues
• Better employee relations for managers
• More satisfied customers for service professionals
• Improved sales for salespeople

2: Happy people are more creative

If your productivity depends on being able to come up with new ideas, you need to be happy at work.

There seems to be a cognitive process that kicks in when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.

3: Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them

When you don’t like your job, every molehill looks like a mountain. It becomes difficult to fix any problem without agonizing over it or complaining about it first. When you’re happy at work and you run into a snafu – you just fix it.

4: Happy people are more optimistic

Happy people have a more positive outlook, and research shows that optimists are way more successful and productive.

5: Happy people are way more motivated

Low motivation means low productivity, and the only sustainable, reliable way to be motivated at work is to be happy and like what you do

6: Happy people get sick less often

Getting sick is a productivity killer, and if you don’t like your job you’re more prone to contract a long list of diseases including ulcers, cancer and diabetes. You’re also more prone to workplace stress and burnout.

7: Happy people worry less about making mistakes – and consequently make fewer mistakes

When you’re happy at work the occasional mistake doesn’t bother you much. You pick yourself up, learn from it and move on. This relaxed attitude means that fewer mistakes are made, and that you’re more likely to learn from them.

8: Happy people make better decisions

Unhappy people operate in permanent crisis mode. Their focus narrows, they lose sight of the big picture, their survival instincts kick in and they’re more likely to make short-term, here-and-now choices. Conversely, happy people make better, more informed decisions and are better able to prioritize their work.

So how do you get to be happy at work?

Get happy in the job you have. There are about a million things you can do to improve your work situation – get proactive! Or if your current job is not fixable, find a new job where you can be happy. Don’t wait – move on now!

Need help finding that job where you can truly feel happy? Contact PACE Staffing Network today!

The news out of Washington has been incredibly positive for the manufacturing industry over the past few months.

For example, manufacturing grew in December at the fastest pace in six months and hiring at U.S. factories picked up.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said that its manufacturing index rose to 53.9 from 52.7 in November. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

Stocks surged in the first day of trading for 2012, in part because of reports that manufacturing grew in China and India in December, two of the world’s largest economies. The report on U.S. factory growth added to those early gains on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 250 points in the first hour of trading. Broader indexes also posted gains.

U.S manufacturing has expanded for more than two years. Factories were one of the first areas of the economy to start growing after the recession officially ended in June 2009.

The Conference Board said last week that its consumer confidence index rose in December to the highest level since April. That’s important because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.

And the number of people applying for unemployment benefits each week is dropping steadily, evidence that companies are cutting fewer jobs.

Employers are hiring more workers, too. The economy generated an average of 143,000 net jobs a month from September through November. That’s almost double the pace for the previous three months.

The economy likely grew at an annual rate of 3 percent or more in the final three months of 2011, analysts say. That would top the 1.8 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter, and the 0.9 percent growth rate in the first half of the year.

Analysts forecast a modest expansion of 2.4 percent in 2012, an Associated Press survey of economists found.

All of this data helped bolster the view that the economy gained momentum at the end of last year.

Feeling ready to hire? Contact the experts at PACE Staffing Network today!

Social media is quickly becoming an ingrained part of our social fabric, and it has had a huge impact on recruiting. While Facebook and Twitter might be the social media sites people think of first, LinkedIn is the best tool for employers, hiring managers and recruiters.

Tap into 150 Million Members.

LinkedIn has more than 150 million members, many of them passive job seekers. Tap into this extensive network of career-oriented professionals and gain more exposure for your job postings, by following these three tips:

1.      Spread the Word With LinkedIn’s InMail. InMails allow you to contact anyone in LinkedIn’s network, without a mutual connection. LinkedIn states that InMails have an average response rate of between 30 and 60 percent (significantly higher than cold calls or emails). And they back up those results with a response guarantee. If your InMail hasn’t resulted in a response within 7 days, LinkedIn will credit your account with additional InMail.

2.      Share Postings With Your Network. You’ve taken the time to build your network of co-workers, former colleagues, business partners, and other professional acquaintances. Now it’s time to put them to use! Spread the word about your job postings by sharing the details within your network. And be sure to ask your network to also pass it along. Depending on your network size, your posting could reach thousands of users within a day or two.

3.      Join LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn groups provide an opportunity to discuss relevant topics with other professionals in your field. Engage in discussions and become active in groups within your discipline to provide an additional opportunity to share your job posting with engaged professionals. Another benefit to sharing your job postings in LinkedIn Groups – a fair number of professionals you reach are passive job seekers. They are experienced, qualified professionals who are not actively seeking work, but may be interested if the right position comes along. Let that “right position” come from you

Attraction Rather Than Promotion

Furthermore, LinkedIn lets you create a profile for your company–using those same rich keywords you use to search for possible employees. Make your company sound interesting and enticing enough and candidates who are actively looking for a new situation (and use LinkedIn to search for companies for whom they’d like to work) may contact you.

At PACE Staffing Network, we use LinkedIn to form relationships and attract top-notch candidates to provide cost-effective staffing and human resourcing options for our clients. Whether you are in need of permanent or contract employees, please contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business grow.