Can we talk? Privately. Over here, out of range of the closed circuit camera and certainly not by cell phone. By e-mail, forget it. Big Brother and Big Sister are watching us closer than photo radar on the highway. Every bit that you are sending by BlackBerry or byte that you are receiving on your I-phone is being recorded for posterity and beyond. There’s a better chance of radioactive waste being returned to pure ground water than there is of your private and privileged information being kept private or privileged.
Let’s face it when the cable company asks you for your social insurance number they are just doing that out of courtesy. They already have it. And when the bank asks you to fill out forms for that car loan, they don’t need the information from you. They just want to know if you’re lying.
Everyday at work we send hundreds of documents, comments, recipes from Aunt Ellie, and not entirely politically correct jokes that our sister who works in a correctional institute has just gotten from the guards who got them from. You know where they got them. And we pretend to each other that nobody know what is going on behind the beige five foot high dividers that separate us from our partners in crime.
So all this talk about privacy at work and people getting up on their high horses about invasions and other such nonsense has me more than a little confused. Yes there are court cases being presented all over the country about the proper ways in which an employer can monitor the electronic practices of their employees. And yes there will be precedents set and guidelines developed and sent out. But all of that has little bearing on the real world, unless you happen to be a lawyer for anyone involved in these cases.
The facts are these. If you work for an employer and you use their equipment, services, connections or network you are already being monitored, legally. They have the right to determine access and to determine the rules of engagement. You can argue, after the fact, that you weren’t informed, that you didn’t know, that you would have been more careful…. Stop it, right now.
You are being monitored. As you read this. If you don’t like it…. Switch it off. That is your only option. Once you turn your computer or smart phone on your boss will be there. Think of it as a party line. And they own the party.
This article first appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
A recent study by human resources consultant firm Mercer found that there has been a shift in thinking by Canadian employees. A few years ago most of the surveys of workers found that while money was important, they valued other things like respect from their supervisor and work-life balance much more.
Today that has changed and Mercer reports that employees are more focused on pay and less on whether their job is rewarding. In fact almost half of the survey participants said they were not satisfied with their base pay and almost as many did not feel they are being paid fairly, given their performance and contribution to the organization.
Some of the people at Mercer think that this is because of the economic downswing in recent years and if employees are worried about cutbacks or layoffs, they’d rather have the money upfront. And there is certainly less loyalty to companies today. But why wouldn’t there be? The days of working for one organization for your entire working life are long gone and so there’s less attachment to individual companies when you are going to work for a string of them over forty years or so.
But the shift in thinking that Mercer is finding may in fact be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changes that are happening in Canadian workplaces today, some of which are driven by economics but most are really about the new generations of workers inhabiting the cubicles inCanada. Depending on their cohort and their experience to date in the workplace, they bring differing values and expectations to their jobs with them.
Generation X and Generation Y employees are the major identifying clusters that we find in the emerging workplaces of today and both will prove challenging to employers who try and deal with them the same as their parents. Generation X workers as the children of Boomers are in a bit of rebellion against their parent’s work ethic but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to get paid the same.
And Generation Y or the Millennials may be the new kids on the block but soon they will make up about forty percent of the workforce. One of their prime characteristics besides being addicted to Facebook is that they just love money and material things.
If you’re an employer my suggestion is to crank up that printing press in the back room. Your new employees may want a lot of other things but if you want to keep them happy then get ready to show all these newbies the colour of your money.
This article originally appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
Almost all of us have had to deal with a difficult boss or supervisor at one time or another in our career. Most of us have fortunately survived to talk, and sometimes laugh about it, but if you are in the middle of a difficult boss situation then it’s probably not very humourous right now.
If you are in that situation then it’s important to remember a couple of things. First of all you always have choices, even in difficult situations. Secondly, you don’t have to deal with a difficult employer completely on your own. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, you don’t have to tolerate abuse; physical, mental, or emotional abuse. Ever.
You may think that you have no choice but to accept difficult behaviour from your supervisor but in my experience that would apply to less than ten percent of all the situations that I have observed. And those would be cases where a person may be working in an isolated location or on a contractual basis and in both cases it would be impractical if not impossible to break the arrangement. In almost every other example I can think of, there is always at least one choice and that is to leave. That may be a last option for many different reasons but it is and will always be an option if the situation is intolerable.
There are also almost always other resources for an individual to tap into at or around the workplace. These include your co-workers, human resource professionals or employee assistance, union or association representatives. Outside of the workplace are friends and families and tons of community and professional resources that you can access for help and support. It has been my experience that once somebody reaches out or asks for help, that help is usually on its way.
Finally, a few words on abuse and bullying, the scourge of the modern workplace. When that abuse or bullying comes from an immediate supervisor or boss it is often difficult for an employee to know how to handle it. Often there is an initial period of shock until they understand exactly what is happening. Books and more books have been written on how to deal with bullies and abuse but the simplest and most effective advice I have ever heard is to tell them to stop and if they don’t then report them. You don’t ever have to put up with it. Ever.
This post first appeared on my blog at www.jobs.ca
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 43 trips to carry that many people.
Please be advised that an article that appeared under Articles for Employers entititled Conflict Management: Pitfalls to Avoid contains material that has been copywrited. It has been removed. It was first published at http://www.leadership-and-motivation-training.com/strategies-for-managing-change.html on 5 January 2010.
I apologize for this error.
Mike Martin
Our parents often passed along a very important message: If a job is worth doing then it’s worth doing well. Sometimes we just go through the motions at work or at home and carry out some of our minor tasks and chores without really paying attention. Then we discover later that the bath overflowed because we were busy doing something else, or putting a file in the wrong place meant hours of more work for ourselves and others. Just doing enough to get by will never turn out well in the long run and there are very real dangers to not doing our best.
Somehow as a society we have accepted mediocrity as the standard. It shows up in every aspect of our lives from convenience store clerks who are just going through the motions to large corporations who are unwilling to provide decent service to their millions of customers. We see it everyday in our schools and other institutions. Students who are bright enough to do better are not encouraged to do their best, but rewarded for just getting by.
But we are all paying a price for this mindless acceptance of mediocrity within our modern society. The potential greatness of our young people is being ignored or underdeveloped and being complacent or silent about this epidemic of average is hurting our collective productivity and undermining those among us who are daring to take the risks required in order to reach for greatness.
We cannot blame our young people for falling into the mediocrity trap. It is a lesson that they have learned from us and only we as their adult models can shift their thinking and behavior. It really does start with us. If we are going to move back from the brink of mediocrity we have to think, talk and act differently.
The thinking is actually the easy part. None of us can have watched the deterioration of standards without thinking that many of those situations could have been handled differently and better. But unless we speak out against it then no one will know what we think and the situation will continue. That applies to the service we receive from the telephone company to the actions and attitudes of our children and students.
The action part is a little harder. The best action we can take to avoid mediocrity is to set higher standards for ourselves and work every day to achieve them. That might mean little things like paying attention to the small details at work to ensuring that we come to work with an attitude to always do our best. It also means encouraging others at home and within the workplace to follow our lead. It may make you and some others uncomfortable for a little while but not accepting second best will certainly pay off for you and them in the long run.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
www.changethethingsyoucan.wordpress.com
A recent survey by global professional services company Towers Watson revealed that North American workers cite excessive workloads, lack of work-life balance, unclear or conflicting job expectations and inadequate staffing as the top sources of workplace stress.
The survey was completed by 335 human resources and/or health benefit managers inCanada(87) and theUnited States(248) with at least 1,000 employees. The responding organizations employ 7.8 million workers and operate in all major industry sectors.
Key findings of the survey:
Mental health conditions continue to be the most common reason for disability claims.
The top three drivers of short-term disability claims are:
■Mental health conditions (83%)
■Muskuloskeletal/back issues at (76%)
■Accidents (37%)
Employee stress is a major and growing business issue.
Many are planning to adapt their organizational health strategies for the next two years to include a focus on mental health (61%) as well as physical health.
The top sources of workplace stress are:
■Excessive workloads
■Lack of work/life balance
■Unclear or conflicting job expectations
■Inadequate staffing
Today nearly 9 in 10 (89%) employers say excessive workload is a problem — a staggering 25% jump from 2009 to 2011 (from 64% to 89%).
The sad news:
Though organizations are striving to limit the impact of workforce stress on business performance, the majority report underwhelming results. In fact, less than 10% of companies say their actions have produced significant success.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
In case you haven’t noticed it, technology is not our friend. Not quite our enemy, but certainly not our friend. When did it turn against us? I’m not quite sure; but I do know this: it has gone from being a relatively benign force in our lives over to the dark side.
Over the years, technology has promised us the world, and when it couldn’t deliver, it promised us the universe. When the promises got so big that no one could possibly live up to them; that’s when it started to lie. Here are some of the whoppers of technology:
Lie #1: Technology will help you work less
Remember that one? Maybe the abacus workers are working a reduced work week, but the rest of us we have never worked more. No one works 35 or 40 hours a week any more. Anyone who’s working at a lower level or minimum wage job is working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. Most people are working at least 50 hours a week and anyone in a managerial role is working 60 plus hours a week.
Lie #2: Technology will eliminate paperwork
So how do you like living in a paperless world? Just a second, I’ll tell you when I finish printing my copy of that email you sent me. Maybe if the promise had been fewer envelopes, it might have had more success. The mail is still there; it’s just stuck in cyberspace, or more likely in your overflowing email basket. Or worse yet waiting for them to clear the queue on your BlackBerry and you get a hundred and four dumped at once.
Lie # 3: Technology will be our servant
Oh yeah. Remind yourself of that when it’s ten-thirty on Sunday night, and you are cutting and pasting your presentation for the Monday morning briefing session. Or when the server decides to take a break for days in the middle of your yearly sales drive. Try and find the techies and the user support people and then get them to agree on the solution as you tread water. How may I serve you again?
Lie # 4: Technology will simplify things for you
I’m not a Luddite. I like experimenting. But sometimes, I just want to turn on the stupid thing and have it run. Why do highly specialized, highly educated, highly technical people want to guide me through processes so that I will understand? I’m from the “still can’t program the VCR generation.” I think that a bluetooth is a kind of whale. Nothing technological is easy, nor is it ever simple. For me, bits and bytes are a snack food.
There are hundreds of these lies out there. What can we do to protect ourselves? No advice here, just a caution: be careful. Be very, very careful. Who knows what ugly surprises that old trickster – technology – has in store for you?
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
One of the many things we learned from the flu frenzy, in addition to washing our hands and sneezing into our elbows, is that if you think you have the flu then stay home to reduce the risk of infecting your whole office.
We’ve all seen co-workers struggle their way into work carrying a large bottle of orange juice and an even larger box of Kleenex. They wheeze and cough their way through the day moaning and groaning as if they are going to die. In a few days they will be better but as for the rest of the office, half of them are now home in bed with whatever version of flu or cold germ that was first introduced to the office.
If you are one of these people who goes to work sick then you are not alone. According to recent on-line poll 61 percent admitted going to work while they are sick. 26 percent of those polled said that they were going to work sick because they were afraid they would lose their jobs. I guess that might be a valid consideration. But 35 percent said that they went to work because they had to meet deadlines or keep up to speed on important projects.
To me that’s incredible. Not only are sick employees risking the health of their co-workers they are putting their work ahead of their basic needs. When you are sick you body needs time, space and rest to heal. If you do not provide that then you run an even greater risk of being sick longer or developing complications like pneumonia, bronchitis or infection. I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure that sweating and sneezing at your desk is not a prescription for good health.
So the next time when your temperature is 102 degrees and you’ve spent all night hacking and wheezing do us all a favour. Just stay in bed and call the office to tell them that you won’t be in today. It may be hard to imagine but life will go on without you and most importantly all of us will be very grateful.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
As parents and teachers we always encourage our children to do their best and strive for perfection. But we have to be careful not to cross the line between asking them to try their best and creating a situation where they think that they have to be perfect. The impact could be profound and not only influence their confidence and self esteem as students but carry on with them throughout their lives.
If they develop a pattern of perfectionism it may rob them of the simple pleasures of working hard and enjoying what they do achieve. It also means that no matter how much success they achieve, they will never really be able to enjoy it unless they are absolutely perfect. The simple truth is that perfectionist children turn into perfectionist adults and this could lead to many problems further down the road.
Psychologists and psychiatrists who have studied perfectionism have found that many turn into workaholics which may be good for employers but create many difficulties for the workers themselves, especially in regards to their physical and mental health. Another trait they have observed is procrastinating or delaying doing certain things unless the perfectionist thinks that they can complete the task to perfection. They also become risk adverse because they are afraid of making a mistake. All of these factors in turn lead to unhealthy adults and workers who have high levels of anxiety and low esteem.
This is not the world that we would like our children to live in. There are enough pressures in today’s society without the added burden of having to be perfect. As Winston Churchill once said “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” So by all means encourage your children to work hard, but also teach them that as long as they do their best, they have a right to celebrate every piece of success that they earn. That way they can not only enjoy their achievements but also feel free to try new things and even make the occasional mistake.
Perfectionism really is a tough road to follow. We can make it easier on our children and ourselves by just asking that they do their best.
Mike Martin is a freelance writer and consultant specializing in workplace wellness and conflict resolution. He is the author of “Change the Things You Can” (Dealing with Difficult People). For more information about Mike please visit:
mike54martin 