WSA Member Update 3.15.24

March 15, 2024 Dear WSA Members,  To commemorate the many reasons why power sweeping supports the goals of the UN’s World Water Day 2024, this editorial article will appear in the March edition of the WorldSweeper e-Newsletter. We have heard from several contractors about a nightmare audit scenario they’ve gone through with their Walmart accounts. An auditing company, called Auditec Solutions, has contacted them to announce they must pay back $XX,000 for selected work done as far back as three years ago for Walmart. We left a voicemail with Auditec but have not received a callback to date. If you do any Walmart sweeping, this PDF file compiled from our interview with one of the contractors so affected is a ‘must read’ item. Definitely a cautionary tale for anyone doing work for Walmart. Oh, and once this particular contractor was under audit, they received what might be called ‘phishing email audit notice’ from another company called Apex Analytix requesting a wide variety of information from them pertaining to a long list of its supposed clients, none of whom were actually customers of the contractor. If you have further information to provide on this topic please let me know. If you don’t already, I encourage everyone reading this to have a LinkedIn account. Think of it as Facebook for business people. I keep hearing about the difficulty in hiring workers. Here’s something from LinkedIn (you don’t need an account to read it) called the Small Business Hiring Guide. Employers look at many factors during the recruitment process, from your knowledge and experience through to your aptitude in areas such as decision making and teamwork. Increasingly, personality tests have been used as a way to determine if someone has the right attitude and personality to fit in with the company’s culture and vision. Myers Briggs is one of the most commonly used personality tests. After progressing through a series of questions, one is assigned to one of sixteen personality types based on your responses. Employers then review this personality type to see if a person would fit in with their organizational values. Here is a link to more info from the WikiJob organization. If you have experience, positive or negative, when using personality tests in your hiring process, please let me know. This month, our Safety First! post has some more info centered around the extreme cold weather many across the nation have been experiencing. February’s Safety First! message discusses the following:March Madness – Get Ready For ItDefensive Driving During March MadnessSafety Committee IdeasHydrationBehavior and Accident CausationGeneral Ergonomic RemindersAs always, if you have questions or comments about this WSA Member Update, or anything else to do with the World Sweeping Association or power sweeping in general, please let me know. Good Sweeping, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, Executive Director World Sweeping Association