(Photo: Florida Conference, via Flickr)
Last holiday season was less than merry for many businesses and their employees. As the recession deepened, companies canceled Christmas bonuses, nixed holiday parties, and began to lay off workers in huge numbers.
A year later many signs point to the tail end of the recession, but unemployment numbers continue to climb and small businesses still struggle to secure loans. With all of these mixed economic messages, Marketplace wants to hear from you: How are the holidays shaping up at your workplace?
Tell us your strategies for making it through another bumpy December. If you work for a company that depends on fourth quarter sales, what is it doing to make sure business is brisk? If you’re a business owner who can’t afford to give bonuses, are you still managing to spread holiday cheer? If the office party has been canceled, have you come up with a different way to mark the season? Click here to fill us in.
Thanks for sharing with us — and happy Thanksgiving!
This week, an independent panel commissioned by the federal Department of Health and Human Services released new guidelines for breast cancer screening.
The new guidelines recommend women over 50 who are not at high risk for cancer get a screening every two years. The old guidelines recommended women over 40 get an annual mammogram. The report also discourages doctors from teaching women to conduct regular breast self-examinations. (Go here for the full recommendation.)
These new guidelines break with past recommendations, and could have real impact on women’s health and health costs. But the hospitals, doctors, insurers, technicians and manufacturers that provide mammography services could also face changes.
Do you see any changes ahead for yourself or your business in response to the new guidelines? Will the new recommendations help or hurt your workplace, your health, health costs, or other parts of your life? Click here to share your experience with Marketplace.
This holiday season Marketplace will explore the impact the recession has had on our individual needs, on philanthropy, and on how we see ourselves. Have you had to ask for help for the first time this year? Have you given assistance to others?
(When we say “help,” we mean financial, psychological, spiritual, housing, or any other kind of assistance that you might need to help you live the life you want to live.)
If you’ve asked for help, or if you’ve given for the first time this year, Marketplace wants to hear your story. Click here to share it.
Unless you work in a small or medium-sized business, CIT might not be a familiar brand. But as a major lender to manufacturing and retail businesses, CIT’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the weekend could hit close to home. This morning on MMR Mitchell Hartmann reported on the impact of the filing — the 5th largest in U.S. history.
What we want to know now is how CIT’s troubles could affect you. Do you own or run a small or medium-sized business? Do you work in retail or manufacturing? Have you done business with CIT in the past? Click here to tell us how you anticipate CIT’s bankruptcy might affect you, your business, or your community.
Overheard on the Trading Floor
Can online dating help you find a financially compatible mate?
cutebabe said: I just need someone out there to help me join college since my mum cant be able to take me... More
Was college worth it?
Roy Gathercoal said: Absolutely. We need to recover and rediscover the difference between job training and education. Training is specific knowledge how to... More
How does foreclosure affect children?
Andrea said: It’s made life harder. So far, what I thought would be one of the greatest summers in my 16 years... More
Susan from Winchester, VA
Joan said: I rather agree with Susan. I find myself much more generous these days since my income is up and financial... More