Lack of Preparation – You show up for meetings on time alright but you always seem to be missing one little piece of information, one spreadsheet or one memo that is crucial to your participation and the meeting is held up for ten minutes as you dig through your desk to find it.
This kind of behavior not only demonstrates to your coworkers that your organizational skills leave a lot to be desired but to many it may seem to be a mark that you really do not respect your coworkers time. Take an extra ten minutes (even if it means coming to work early) to make sure that when you walk into that conference room you are ready to go.
Bad Phone Etiquette – Your phone conversations are so loud that they can be heard all the way across the office and everyone knows that you have a hot date tonight/ your spouse is an idiot/ your cat has flu. People who spend too much time on personal phone calls tend to be resented by their coworkers (its wasting on the clock time) and when those details have to be shared with everyone else because you can’t keep your voice down the resentment doubles.
Keep personal calls short and sweet and if you really must leave your cellphone on (if you are allowed) put it on vibrate; you might think your latest ringtone is the best ever but everyone else might not agree.
You Love to Play the Walking Wounded – You may think that you are doing everyone in the office by dragging yourself to work with a 103 degree fever and/or a somewhat unusual rash but it is unlikely that your coworkers will agree. Instead they are likely to be locked in their offices frantically covering everything (including themselves) with Lysol spray and cursing about your sickly presence under their breath.
If you have anything more than the sniffles stay home, your coworkers will pick up the slack while you recover and they will thank you for not sharing for once.
You er..Smell
Not the “hasn’t had a shower in a month” kind of smell but the “oh my gosh did he bathe in a vat of Drakkar Noir” or the “smells like a ten year old ashtray” kind of smell. Your scent is important, especially when you’re working in a small, poorly ventilated space with lots of other people around, so be considerate of other people’s noses.
If you must smoke “air” yourself out before you come in, save the fancy cologne for date night and don’t eat boiled eggs or onions for lunch, it tends to put everyone else off theirs.
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Your vacation plans have been set for months and you should be as excited as a little kid at Christmas. Trouble is you are still checking your emails as the plane is taxiing and there is that nagging feeling at the back of your mind that your assistant will forget to call that client if you aren’t there to remind him.
Sound familiar? Most of us have a really hard time letting go of the office and actually enjoying the vacation we waited all year long for. Here are some really good reasons why you should make that extra effort to disengage though, since it will not only benefit you but your company as well:
Time to Recharge your Mind – Stepping away from the everyday pressures of your job you will actually find that when you return you will have a better perspective of many of the everyday issues at the office, just like you did on your very first day when everything was still shiny, exciting and new.
Let Others Step Up – if you are a supervisor chances are you got to be one because someone else once gave you the chance to step up and show the world (or the company at least) what you were really made of. Keep this in mind when you are tempted to check in with the office every fifteen minutes from the beach. Step back, sip another pina colada and let your team cope alone, they can.
Your Family will be Happier – Most of us occasionally neglect or spouse or children when back at home in favor of the office. It’s not the ideal scenario but it is hard to avoid sometimes. Don’t do it to them when you are all supposed to be on vacation though. Your vacation is a chance to atone for all those occasions when dinner was a lukewarm burger special from the drive thru and you missed the first three innings of your kid’s ballgame so take it.
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So, you have been in your new position for a while now, you are settling in nicely but it seems that you are handling duties that go well above and beyond your original job description. The problem is that nobody – especially your boss- has seemed to notice or acknowledge all this extra effort. You are now simmering with resentment and you are determined to gain some of the recognition you deserve, preferably with a new title and a raise. But what is the best way to go about doing so? Some advice:
Make a List – Before you do anything else make a list of all the extra responsibilities you have taken on and all the time that you are putting in on these new projects. Perhaps you have begun orientating new employees and that is taking up a certain amount of your time every week now. Calculate how much time that is exactly and note it down. You should also get down on paper the amount of time you spend performing the tasks you were originally hired to do.
Invent Your New title – Have a second look at your list of extra responsibilities. Does it look similar to that of a fellow employee who has a “higher” title than the one you have? If so, you should note that down too. If you do not see anybody else with remotely the same responsibilities as you currently have invent a title that you think might be appropriate to more accurately describe your real roll in the company.
A Word about Money – A new title is great, but with it should come a new salary structure as well. Have a look at a few job classifieds or salary comparison websites . How much more does your desired new title make you worth?
Taking it to the Top – Once all of this preparation is complete the time has to come to request a formal meeting with your boss to discuss it all. Let her know in advance what you propose to discuss so that she can allot you a reasonable amount of her time instead of fitting you in between phone calls.
In the end it is up to you, and you alone to look out for yourself at work and take the initiative to ask for the recognition you deserve. Chances are that your boss may be so busy herself she has barely had time to notice how far your job duties have expanded. Present your case in a clear, calm manner and you should stand a great chance of getting what you want.
College is four of five (or maybe even twenty) years in the past now but you have been thinking about returning to school to pursue an advanced degree to boost your earning potential even further. This however is a bigger decision than you might think and there are some points you should consider before you return to the academic world:
Why – Exactly what are your motivations for returning to school? Do you want to earn more money in your current profession or change gears altogether? Either option can be a good reason for resuming your education, as long as you have thought it through. If you are pursuing an advanced degree to further your current career make sure that the program you choose will actually translate into a real job in the future. Ask the admissions counselor about previous graduates, how many of them did land the kind of position you are looking for?
Where – Thanks to the internet you do not necessarily have to quit your job or even physically set foot on a college campus in order to earn an advanced degree like an MBA. There are some excellent online programs available but you do need to understand that going to school online takes a lot of discipline. You will have to be your own motivator and be able to turn off the TV to get your assignments done.
Finances – Even if you qualify for student loans the money will have to be paid back eventually. Getting an advanced degree anywhere is not cheap so you need to be fairly certain that 1) you will see the whole thing through and actually finish the degree and 2) paying back the loan in the future will not cripple you and your family financially.
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Over the last several years the world of telecommuting has exploded. More and more businesses are offering their employees the chance to work from home (at least part of the time). Additionally, some companies are simply looking to the growing pool of home based virtual assistants to outsource tasks to. If you have been offered the chance to telecommute, or are considering becoming a virtual employee you do have to be aware of the pros and cons before you take the plunge:
On the Upside
Freedom – No boss looking over your shoulder, no one criticizing your choice of outfit today, no one is monitoring your coffee breaks.
Saving time – Gone is that 45 minute commute in heavy traffic and all the stress that comes along with it.
Saving Money – Working from home you make your own coffee in the morning instead of grabbing a $4 Starbucks latte every day and you are more likely to make yourself a sandwich for lunch than grab a fast food fix. Because there is no dress code in your home office your clothing budget is likely to decrease as well.
Flexibility – Have to take an afternoon off to attend your kids play? No problem if you work at home the missed time can be made up whenever you feel like it.
On the Downside
Self Discipline – It takes an awful lot of self discipline to work from home. If you do not have to be at your desk by 8 a.m. anymore it is easy to become lazy and distracted
Loneliness – No more 10 am coffee klatches and no more coworker camaraderie.
No Escape – You cannot escape all the pressures of the office by going home and forgetting about them, you are already there.
Working from home is certainly not for everyone but for some it is the perfect setup. You can do so quite successfully as long as you treat your time as time at the office. Do not work in your PJs, get properly dressed, you will feel more businesslike. The same holds true for the hours you work. Set them just like you used to when you worked in the “real world” and you will avoid not only lack of productivity but burn out as well.
If you are interested in telecommuting opportunities check out www.savvyvirtualjobs.com
How happy you are at work depends largely how much you actually like your job. But even those who love what they do have a bad day once in a while. There are some simple things you can do to make each and every day a little brighter and more productive:
- Get a good desk chair and sit up straight – A comfortable place to sit can make a huge difference to your day and sitting up straight is an instant energizer and motivator.
- Get a headset – Yes, you may feel silly at first, especially if everyone else around you still cradles the receiver against one shoulder but within a few days you will wonder how you ever lived without it.
- Tackle the difficult stuff first – If you have a difficult phone call to make or a tricky task to tackle get it out of the way when your day is beginning – procrastination will only make things worse.
- Be honest about your time management – Do you constantly feel overwhelmed but you aren’t getting that much done? Examine where your time and energy is really going. How much time do you spend surfing the Web, looking for something you have lost or doing tasks that are really someone else’s job?
- Tidy Up – Set aside a few minutes at least one a week to tidy up and sort through all that clutter on your desk. When you are finished the sense of accomplishment is wonderful.
- Don’t Keep Treats Around – A candy dish on your desk is not a good idea. A handful of M&Ms a day could add up to an annual 10 pound weight gain, which does not make anybody happy.
- Don’t Skip Lunch – On the other hand starving yourself and working through lunch doesn’t help either. By the afternoon your sugar levels will have dipped and concentrating will be a difficult task.
8.Get out of the Office – Try to spend at least 30 minutes a day out of the office, and if possible schedule a lunch date with a non co worker at least once a week to get a break from office gossip.
Most of us would love to say that we have all of our holiday gift shopping done by now but the fact is that most of us don’t. If there is a job seeker yet to be crossed off your shopping list why not consider giving them something that can be truly useful to them this year instead of just that jumbo tin of popcorn? Here are some great gift ideas, inexpensive and not so, for meaningful gifts to brighten a job seeker’s holiday season;
- A stylish briefcase or portfolio. Something that matches their style without being too outré.
- A serious, expensive looking watch. The keyword here is expensive looking. It does not have to be a Rolex, just a timepiece that looks like it means business. No more Mickey Mouse.
- A gift certificate for a hair salon and/or a spa. Pamper them and improve their image at the same time.
- An upscale looking pen. It makes a terrible impression on an interviewer when an otherwise impressive candidate fishes their sister’s well chewed Jonas Brothers pen out of their bag because it was all that they could find before leaving the house.
- A gift of an hour with a career coach, or a professional resume rewriting.
- An offer of a lunch date with you and a friend who happens to work in the very field that your gift recipient is in searching for a position in.
- Another invitation, simply the offer of a sympathetic open ear and a broad shoulder to cry on when the job hunting all gets too much. The holidays can be really rough on a job seeker, emotionally as well as financially and sometimes just knowing that they have people in their corner, cheering them on can be the best gift of all.
As the holidays roll around human resources departments have to invariably start dealing with an increased number of employee requests for time off. With all the hustle and bustle, all the shopping to be done and party arrangements to be made it is natural for workers to want to use their vacation days at this time of year.
Although you may feel that you should honor these requests in many cases doing so would leave the company critically understaffed. Here are a few hints for administering a holiday leave policy that is fair for all parties involved:
Establish criteria for handling holiday time off decisions: There should be a criteria set in stone that governs how holiday time off is approved. You may choose to go by seniority or to grant requests on a first come, first served basis. Whatever guidelines you come up with ensure all managers and employees are aware of what is crucial to avoid arguments and accusations of favoritism.
Ask for volunteers first: Some people may be quite happy to work over the holidays, especially if doing so involves overtime pay. Before making a holiday employee schedule ask if there are any staff members who want to volunteer to work on a holiday.
Offer an Incentive: If the majority of employees in your office seem to request the same week off every year, right before the holidays, offer an incentive for employees to buck the trend. Consider offering employees an extra day’s vacation if they use their time after the vacation rush is over.
Consider alternatives to full days off: Allowing employees to follow a more flexible schedule around the holidays can kill two birds with one stone: the business remains productive while the employees have the time they need to attend to their personal holiday preparations. Allowing an employee to come in earlier than usual in order to leave a few hours before their usual quitting time and vice versa may be all the time they need to get all their holiday plans in order.
The expression “work-life balance” was first heard in the 70′s to express the relationship between private life and a person’s working life. This concept, which was first used in 1986 in the United States, has increased in importance as the separation of the private and professional sectors of life have continued to grow.
The concept of work and life being distinct and separate from each other is somehow a recent construct, as back in the day, this work/life balance concept was unheard of in the 17th up until most of the 20th centuries. Back then work and life were so integrated in such a way no one would have seen the separation or the difference between what part of farm life, for instance, was life and what portion was work.
In most parts of the world this remains the case, but for developed nations like the US and Japan, these artificial distinctions for work-life balance came into existence to meet the needs of industries where everyone had to be in a particular physical place for specific time frames for things to be made.
Over the past few decades, substantial increases in workload capacity from advances in information technology and a highly competitive work environment have caused burnout and excessive stress for many workers. The stress and overexertion experienced by employees have resulted to decreased productivity, greater absenteeism, workplace violence, and many other adverse effects both for the business and the individual. Which begs the question: Is Work/Life Balance Really Possible?
It is too easy to think our bodies can cope or adapt to an unforgiving and unrelenting schedule, and that striking a balance is unimportant. We all like to think we are indestructible as our egos have taught us. This, however, is sadly not the case. In Japan, what’s even more disturbing is they have actually coined a word for it, ‘karoshi’ meaning ‘death by overwork.’ As the name implies, this is the deadly result for succumbing to long hours and high stress with no let up. Recent figures state around 10,000 Japanese workers a year die from karoshi. The hard work may be a prime suspect, but actually it is the relentless and continuous pressure without let up that poses the danger and kills.
A definition of work-life balance states one should find a mixture of achievement and enjoyment each day in the different quadrants of your life, namely work, family, friends and self. The key is placing priorities on each quadrant, and finding a pattern to balance your priorities. Work-life balance is possible, it is not a myth, you just need to recognize the signs of burnout and stay clear of it by sticking to your priorities and those that really matter to you. If you know what your personal and professional needs are, you can intelligently decide if your workplace is meeting them. When all the puzzle pieces of your life fit together, you will no longer have to juggle and choose so you can be a better friend, parent, employee, and person.
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