By Beau Ruff for TCAJOBOne challenge for the business owner is attracting and retaining key personnel. This challenge permeates all businesses from the largest to the smallest. At some point, the key person needs more incentive to stay and excel. One common tool to incentivize the employee to stay is...

By Allen Johnson, Ph.D. for TCAJOBWhat is the best way to move an organization toward a quality culture? How can positive change be made without eliciting employee anxiety or resentment?Understanding how people are motivated is key. One thing is certain: people are not motivated by the visions of other people....

Seven years ago, after working in the Visiting Angels office for just a short time, Christine Rose-VanWormer knew she’d eventually own one of the franchises.That “eventually,” happened last July, when Rose-VanWormer took the reins of the Kennewick business.“I knew after I started working for Visiting Angels that we’d look for...

By Jeff Morrow for TCAJOBWhen Travis Higbee first started collecting foot bling as a teenager, it didn’t take long for his parents to collectively put their feet down.“My parents couldn’t afford my habits anymore,” Higbee said.Now just 21, the 2013 Hanford High graduate is opening his own retail store that...

Asked if the farmers markets and produce stands benefited the community, “definitely” was the unanimous answer of several vendors and the manager of the Pasco Farmers Market. Mike Somerville,Pasco Farmers Market“They involve local people, both the growers and their customers. It’s where you can get locally-grown produce that’s truly farm...

Levi Staley has always had a knack for technology. In high school, he decided to turn a profit from his talent by repairing broken cell phones and reselling them once they were usable.“Then I got into helping people fix their computers and helping people recover data,” he said.Despite his ability...

Sacajawea State Park’s serene beauty will be a bit livelier in June as two groups hold popular annual events there early in the month.The Friends of Sacajawea State Park will have its annual Old Fashioned Day from noon to 4 p.m. June 4.“It’s a family event featuring simple games like...

Dressed in pink shirts and pink hard hats, an engaged group of high school girls looked steadily focused on the job at hand. Some build planter boxes; others lay cement, transforming it into garden steps; and some of the young women operate saws with natural ease, like they’d worked in...

After a short stint as Thai eatery, followed by a Mexican restaurant, the former O’Henry’s in Historic Downtown Kennewick is once again a diner. The Downtown Diner opened April 8 at 20 S. Auburn St., Kennewick.Three partners, Amber Woods, Rodrick Gladney and Robert VanSlycke, all of Kennewick, own the diner.The...

Melinda Merrill is only 15, but she already knows exactly what to do when her company faces danger of bankruptcy due to an increasingly obsolete product offering. She cuts costs and controls marketing expenses.These were decisions she and her team at Richland High School had to make as part of...