Recommended Apps—Wunderlist, Dunno, Education, Ambience

 [Go here for Holly Jones’ first six apps]

App #7. Checklists and To-Do Lists

Apps such as Wunderlist (www.wunderlist.com) and Checkmark (builtbysnowman.com) take the to-do list to the next level. You can create lists while at the comfort of your desk, then act on the items in the list and check them off on your phone when you’re away from the office. You can also share to-do lists (and the responsibilities on them) with colleagues.

Checkmark adds additional features such as location-based reminders. Perhaps you operate from multiple locations and need to remind yourself to meet with a colleague the next time you’re on-site. Checkmark allows you to set a reminder based on your next physical visit to that office location.  (Wunderlist: Free, available for Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, and Android. Checkmark: $4.99, available only for iOS.)

App #8. Dunno

Of course, even the best to-do list is only half the battle—you still have to find the time (and motivation) to complete the tasks on the list. What if there were an app that could actually do some of your work for you? Enter Dunno (www.wedunno.com).

Though Dunno can’t explain how the Affordable Care Act will impact your benefits plan, it can conduct research on the subject for you. All you have to do is enter a quick note when the topic is fresh in your mind—perhaps “Affordable Care Act” or “conference locations in Chicago”—and then go back to what you were doing. Dunno will search the Web in the background, delivering results from popular search engines, YouTube, Wikipedia, and other free Web resources. (Free, available for Mac and iOS.)

App #9. Free Education

For those rare moments when you do have some extra time for research and skill development, iTunesU (www.apple.com) and TED (www.ted.com) both provide access to quick nuggets of free educational and training content. Much of the content available on iTunesU comes from live lectures at top universities such as Harvard and Stanford; in most cases, you can listen along to an entire semester of course lectures. The TED app provides video content from the popular TED: Ideas Worth Spreading conference series. (Free, iTunesU available for iOS, plus content can also be accessed via iTunes on PC and Mac desktops. TED app available for iOS, Android, and Windows phones.)

Get ADA compliant job descriptions for your jobs with a Free Market Analysis Report. Also receive guidance on how to use our Compensation Analyzer tool to do market analysis, identify internal and external inequities, and track compensation.

App #10. Ambiance

Sometimes, the best way to increase productivity is simply decreasing distractions. Ambiance (ambianceapp.com) and Naturespace (www.naturespace.com) can help you tune out distracting background noise and conversations with their expansive sound libraries. Naturespace offers a high-quality selection of immersive, headphone-optimized audio environments, from gentle sunrises to violent thunderstorms. (Free, both apps include a wide variety of free sounds, as well as premium sounds that cost between $1 and $3 each. Ambiance is available on iOS and Android, as well as desktop computers. Naturespace app available on iOS only, though some sounds can be purchased individually from the website for play on other audio devices.)

Finding ways to save time and be more efficient—always a challenge for compensation and benefits managers, but certainly not the only one. “Maintain internal equity and external competitiveness and control turnover, but still meet management’s demands for lowered costs.” Heard that one before?  

Many of the professionals we serve find helpful answers to all their compensation questions at Compensation.BLR.com, BLR’s comprehensive compensation website.

And there’s great news! The site has just been revamped in two important ways. First, compliance focus information has been updated to include the latest on COBRA, Lilly Ledbetter, and the FMLA. Second, user features are enhanced to make the site even quicker to respond to your particular needs:

• Topics Navigator—Lets you drill down by topical areas to get to the right data fast.
• Customizable Home Page—Can be configured to display whatever content you want to see most often.
• Menu Navigation—Displays all the main content areas and tools that you need in a simple, easy format.
• Quick Links—Enables you to quickly navigate to all the new and updated content areas.

The services provided by this unique tool include:

• Localized Salary Finder. Based on reliable research among thousands of employers, here are pay scales (including 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles) for hundreds of commonly held jobs, from line worker to president of the company. The data are customized for your state and metro area, your industry, and your company size, so you can base your salaries on what’s offered in your specific market, not nationally.

Get an ADA compliant job description, grade assignment, rate range for that job, and salary data, all customized for your industry and geography. Better news? It’s FREE. Download Your Free Market Analysis Report.

• State and Federal Wage-Hour and Other Legal Advice. Plain-English explanations of wage-hour and other compensation- and benefits-related law at both federal and state levels. “State” means the laws of your state, because the site is customized to your use. (Other states can be added at a modest extra charge.)
• Job Descriptions. The website provides them by the hundreds, already written, legally reviewed, and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandate that essential job functions be separated from those less critical. All descriptions carry employment grade levels to current norms—another huge time-saver.
• Merit Increase, Salary, and Benefits Surveys. The service includes the results of three surveys a year. Results for exempt and nonexempt employees are reported separately.
• Daily Updates. Comp and benefits news updated daily (as is the whole site).
• “Ask the Experts” Service. E-mail a question to our editors and get a personalized response within 3 business days.

If we sound as if we’re excited about the program, it’s because we are. For about $3 a working day, the help it offers to those with compensation responsibilities is enormous.

This one’s definitely worth a look, which you can get by clicking the links below.

Click here to get more information or start a no-cost trial and get a complimentary special report!