Whenever you bring on a new employee, your productivity drops a little. You acknowledge that it's worth it because you'll get productivity from the new hire in short order. But what about bringing on a student during the summer? Won't that take just as much time to train them and then, as soon as they're any good, they go back to school?

It doesn't have to work that way. A summer internship can be beneficial for both you and the student. Kristin Burnham's article How to Manage Summer Interns: 5 Expert Tips from LinkedIn tells you the five steps that will make it work.

Smart companies recognize the strength of their companies is their people. When employees need specific skills to be successful, these companies provide the training. Yes, it's a cost, but the return far exceeds the cost. In this Forbes article, Lisa Quast interviews the woman who runs Deloitte University, the training arm of Deloitte Consulting LLP, Diana O'Brien. In the interview, O'Brien discusses the skills employees need, how the program works, and why Deloitte considers it a good investment. It may help you understand why you need to train your employees as well.

More on this topic:

• Cross Training Employees
• New Employee Training - Is It Worth The Investment
• Learn at Lunch, A Program To Help Employees Grow

Like so many other management issues, the question "Do I have to pay my employees to attend the company picnic?" is answered "Yes and No". Most of us attend the company picnic because we want to - or we skip it because we don't want to attend. But when employees are pressured to attend - often by a manager who wants to look good - there may be a case that the employees are due compensation for attending. See Picnic payroll problems for more details.

Remember, just like the company holiday party, the company picnic is more "company" than "picnic" for most companies. If you do attend, and you should, watch your behavior - and that of any family members you take.

Here's another list of ten CEOs who made a difference. In this case, it's 10 CEOs who turned things around. Too many CEOs get credit (and lots of money) for continuing to steer profitable companies forward. But these ten are examples of that rare breed who can step in when things are falling apart and turn things around. These are the ones that actually earn their salaries.

Anyone can steer the ship in calm waters