We are constantly bombarded with the threat of strangers stealing our identity and yet do we ever consider what personal information is available to our co-workers?

I just read where Cyber-Ark Software conducted a survey which revealed that one in three Read the rest of this post »

Founding president for the Center for Work-Life Policy,  Sylvia Ann Hewlett, has a new book called “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success.” In it she writes that while 37 percent of qualified women “off-ramp” or opt out of their career at some point, generally to raise a family, a majority (97%) would like to eventually return to work.

This whole idea of off-ramping or opting-out for at least some portion of a woman’s career seems to be more common than in the past. In fact according to a recent CBS News story, the number of college-educated moms working outside the home has dropped 7 percent in the last decade.

However, the entire off-ramping subject seems to have Read the rest of this post »

I was laughing.

Okay, maybe not laughing, but definitely chuckling when I read recently that Bersin & Associates, a talent management consultancy firm, conducted a survey of 750 business and 55 senior HR executives and found that “more than half admitted to a critical shortage of line managers as well as difficulty in identifying, hiring and developing mid-level managers.”

The reason I was chortling was because I remember a time in my friend’s career when he was literally squeezed out of a company – along with fellow mid-level managers – as the rank and file along with the executive team came together in a flattening of the organization.

Now these oh, so many years later, they want him. They really want him. But why now? Read the rest of this post »

Founding president for the Center for Work-Life Policy,  Sylvia Ann Hewlett, has a new book called “Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success.”  In it she writes that while 37 percent of qualified women “off-ramp” or opt out of their career at some point, generally to raise a family, a majority (97%) would like to eventually return to work.

This whole idea of off-ramping or opting-out for at least some portion of a woman’s career seems to be more common than in the past. In fact according to a recent CBS News story, the number of college-educated moms working outside the home has dropped 7 percent in the last decade.

However, the entire off-ramping subject seems to have Read the rest of this post »

I recently read that Careerbuilder.com found in its annual survey that 20 percent of the 7,000 respondents plan to be in contact with their place of employment during their vacation.

Now while this is down from last year’s high of 27 percent, it still seems ridiculous to me that so many people feel it absolutely necessary to keep in touch even though they are on vacation.

This reminds me of a story that a friend told me about a vacation she once spent with several other couples at an annual Fourth of July baseball tournament. While men were busy playing their hearts out in order to lay claim to the winner’s trophy, one wife was too busy on her cell phone checking in with everyone at her office to notice some of the spectacular plays her husband made.  Later as everyone was busy recounting the action, this too-busy wife had nothing to say.

The point is that BREAK most company’s vacation policies talk about how important time away from work really is. And that’s why they offer employees vacation: to provide employees with paid time off for rest and renewal.   

So what is it about some people that they just can’t let go?

Are they so absolutely indispensable that their organizations cannot live without them? Or is it that their egos won’t let them believe otherwise?

While some seem to think it would reflect poorly on them showing that perhaps they weren’t needed if they didn’t check in, the truth is that the opposite may be true. If you effectively prepare in advance, it may just show you are organized and have management potential.

So next time you plan a vacation be sure to plan in advance how things will operate while you’re away and then trust your staff or coworkers to function fine without you. That way you can truly enjoy your vacation, not just sort of.

Want to take off work one afternoon and go fishing or to the movies? Don’t feel like getting up at 6a to make the commute to the office?

ROWE or Results-Only Work Environment is a performance-based, results-focused culture whereby the organization focuses on productivity, retention and the bottom line by allowing employees to work when and where they want as long as the job gets done.

Widely touted by retail giant Best Buy, Inc., ROWE has been implemented by about 60 percent of that organization.

According to Scott Jauman, Sr. Manager, Sourcing and Procurement for Best Buy, Inc. ROWE is about asking, “…what has been produced, did it meet a customer need, is there anything else these individuals are doing that they just don’t need to do, that doesn’t meet customer needs?”

But can ROWE really work? Read the rest of this post »

Are you drowning in a sea of emails? Do you have meetings to discuss prior meetings? Is “teamwork” your mantra? Unfortunately, over-communication – sometimes referred to as the “chaotic noise” — has become a very real problem for many workers.

According to participants in an on-line survey, the average manager said they received 57 emails per day yet feel only 25 are necessary to do their job. This means that employees Read the rest of this post »

Summer is on us once again. And along with the warm weather comes a flurry of young workers seeking to make a few extras dollars during their break.

So when a recent California reader asked about hiring minors for summer work, I thought it might be a good idea to remind everyone what you need to consider when beefing up your staff with the under-18 crowd.

As you probably already know, hiring minors is regulated under numerous authorities, such as Read the rest of this post »

According to a new book out by Jennifer Deal, Retiring the Generation Gap: How Employees Young and Old Can Find Common Ground, after seven years of research the idea that there is an on-going conflict between generations at work – boomers, Xers, Yers – is poppycock.

Apparently what it comes down to is that we all want the same basic things, but each generation defines those things differently. For instance one unifying commonality includes a desire to feel respected; however, how respect is defined differs. For older generations it means giving weight to their opinions, while for younger folks it means paying attention to what they say.

Other commonalities between Read the rest of this post »

A recent article in Workforce Magazine painted a rather bleak picture of our future workforce by stating that today’s high school graduates lack the qualities and skills that employers seek in new hires.

However, based on the report “Are they Really Ready to Work?”, the lack of talent is not just among high schoolers, who appear to require help in “everything from writing and work ethic to oral communication.” Unfortunately, college grads seem to have their own set of Read the rest of this post »