Today’s business environment is both energy and time intensive. If you’re part of a small company, you likely wear many hats. If you’re part of a large company, odds are you’re involved in global business development. Whatever business you’re in, time is at a premium. Throw in the responsibilities of family and caring for a home, and that leaves precious little time to think about things like fitness. Fortunately, a few simple tweaks to your day can go a long way toward fitting fitness into our busy lives. Fitness Lunches Studies have shown time and again that eating lunch at your desk contributes to weight gain. Even worse is the ubiquitous business lunch, which generally consists of an over-abundance of wasteful calories. Break the mold. Pack your lunch and fit in a quick workout instead. Sure you’ll miss out on the latest gossip, but its a small price to pay. If your employer has a locker room/shower, a 30-minute walk, run, or bike ride is very manageable on a one-hour … [Read more...] about Living Fit In Today's Business World
Career Advice
8 Best Employee Incentive Programs
Best perks to offer aside from salary, raises, and health benefits. Employee retention is especially important when the economy is down because sourcing, interviewing, hiring and training replacements drain valuable time and money resources. In order to promote employee job satisfaction, you as a manager or HR professional need to focus on making some of the top preferred perks available to your workers, in addition to base pay and insurance. Employee morale surveys from Infosurv can help you determine what incentives are best for your employees. To find out more about some of the best employee incentives, read on. 1. Flex hours and/or telecommuting Flexible hours and telecommuting are two different perks, but they both offer the same thing: flexibility and freedom for the employee to choose when and where he or she works. This is one of the most sought after employee incentive programs. There are a number of ways to offer flex hours to employees who earn it. One option may be … [Read more...] about 8 Best Employee Incentive Programs
How to Work When Your Personal Life is Falling Apart
We often have to show up at the office even when there's a serious issue unfolding at home. Death, divorce, fights, and a myriad of other unfortunate life situations might stop your life in its tracks, but the harsh reality is that work must go on. To maintain your work-life balance and keep your job, here are several tactics employees can use to make a tough time a bit easier:1. If you trust your supervisor, tell them what’s going on. Be aware of your company's Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) policy before you do this, as unpaid leave may not be a viable option for you. Bosses may be more understanding than they’re given credit for, and proper work-life balance is an asset to both you and the organization.But revealing a personal problem to your boss can have unintended consequences. Though against the law, your issue could hold you back from future advancement. On the flip side, telling your boss could build your trust quotient, raising your stock as an employee. The … [Read more...] about How to Work When Your Personal Life is Falling Apart
Top 7 iPhone Apps for Working While Abroad
It’s 2011 and everyone does everything on their mobile phones. Alexander Graham Bell is rolling over in his grave…hey, maybe there’s an app for that. There might as well be because if you have an iPhone, there’s an app for just about everything. Some are free, some are not; regardless, there are 7 iPhone apps that are invaluable to those working abroad. Let’s take a look at the free iPhone apps where functionality and fun meets. 1) Google Maps I’m happy to report that this is one of the free iPhone apps. Sooner or later while traveling in a foreign town, you are going to get lost. Face it. Since asking for directions may be an exercise in futility, being able to just jump onto your iPhone and find not only your location but where you need to go is an invaluable asset. This is something no self-respecting iPhone carrying traveler should be without. 2) TripIt You can pull up your itinerary by emailing it to ‘TripIt’ and it will be saved and synced to your iPhone. Even if … [Read more...] about Top 7 iPhone Apps for Working While Abroad
Being a Manager Sucks
Recent graduates and entry-level employees often step into the workforce with an eye on moving into management. The thinking is that with a management title comes more money, respect, and power—but that’s not always the case. Being a middle manager comes with its own set of frustrations. Before setting your sights on the corner office, keep the following things about management in mind. 1. You realize how little power you really have. The majority of ideas that you wish to implement must be approved by your managers. An inordinate amount of time is spent selling top management on changes. This major hierarchical stumbling block sets you up with all of the responsibility without any of the authority. Plus, it’s a time drainer that takes you away from the work that has to get done. 2. You realize you still need to do your old job too. Many people push for a promotion so that they can earn more money, show advancement on their resume, and ultimately have more … [Read more...] about Being a Manager Sucks
Stop Wasting Your Time at Work
March and April are two of the most difficult months to work through because there tends to be a lack of motivation; everyone wants time to fly so summer arrives and PTO’s happen every other week. However, it’s actually crucial for professionals to be productive during these two months because vacation season is fast approaching. The only way you are going to reach your work goals is if you use your time efficiently. This means avoiding unnecessary phone calls, distracting conversations, and chores around the office. If you let yourself get distracted every minute, then before you know it, its 7:00pm and you are still at the office finishing up work. Stay in "work mode" by applying these solutions to the following three common problems: The phone that never stops ringing You aren’t going to be able to get a lot of work done if your phone is constantly ringing. Aside from being annoying, your phone ringing every 2 seconds is also very distracting for you and your coworkers. … [Read more...] about Stop Wasting Your Time at Work
How to Get Your Spouse's Support About Your Lousy Job
Anyone married or in a serious relationship recognizes The Look – it occurs when you get home from your crappy job (Should I Quit My Job?) and start to once again talk about your day. I wouldn’t exactly call it "the thousand-yard stare," but it speaks directly to how your partner is receiving this communication byte. Here’re some of my possible interpretations of what’s going on in the mind behind The Look: · "Oh, God, not again." · "Does HE ever ask what kind of day I had?" · "He is NOT quitting that job!" · "I wonder if ‘Ice Truckers’ is on tonight?" · "Did I finish all that red wine last night?" · "Maybe I should be putting on the ‘ahhh, honey, I’m sorry about your day’ face." Why the Tuning Out or Frustration? Don’t get me wrong, even if your spouse is having the above thoughts in response to your crappy day talk, don’t assume she doesn’t care. But even a loving, caring partner hearing you complain about your job constantly is … [Read more...] about How to Get Your Spouse's Support About Your Lousy Job
How to Backtrack From a Work Fight
Admit it. On an unbearably slow work day, you would sign up for a pay-to-view of "Project Manager SMACKDOWN!" Instead of the semi-civilized, passive-aggressive wordplay you usually get from these two, they’d get it out of their system and you all could get on with your day. Not that I’m a proponent of violent fighting at work, but wouldn’t it be satisfying to watch?Work ConflictBut a serious conflict at work can be really tricky. It’s not quite like a spat with your spouse or friend, which has different rules because it’s a personal relationship. You have to work with this person every day and you can’t really avoid the issue and get your job done. So, what comes next? It depends on where the conflict was left, how much damage has been done and what you’re willing to do about it.Skill SetAs we often bemoan here on Jobacle, the workplace is made up of an unfortunatelly large percentage of buffoons, clods and the clueless. Oh yeah, there’s … [Read more...] about How to Backtrack From a Work Fight
Four Ways to Overcome Procrastination
It seems as if there’s always something just waiting to be put off. It could be the laundry, filing the income taxes or starting that PowerPoint presentation at work. Regardless of the task, Procrastination and its first cousin Lack of Motivation are usually in the wings just waiting for their close-ups. So how do you kick them off the stage and get down to business? It won’t be easy but it is possible. To get started, you’ll need paper, a pen, a month-at-a-glance calendar and a small reward. Identify the project Start by writing the overall goal and the deadline. For instance, you may have sales presentation that is due next week. Once you have a deadline you can work backward to create a timeline of smaller tasks with corresponding deadlines. What started out as a large project can be segmented into a list of smaller, more manageable steps. Break down the project into smaller tasks Once you have your overall goal, you need to start the day by writing down your goals. Think … [Read more...] about Four Ways to Overcome Procrastination
Do You Have a Career Backup Plan?
What happens when the one thing you do - and do well - gets taken away? You adapt - of course. Such is the case of Doc Martin, the lead character in the British dramedy of the same name. When the successful big-city surgeon succumbs to panic disorder at the sight of blood, he is forced to shift his life by becoming a general practitioner in a rural town. The public perception is that he has fallen from grace; trading in big city life for the back country.As ironically far fetched and beautifully off the plot sounds, it's not all that uncommon. There are people who end up unable to do the very thing they once loved; something that was the backbone of their career happiness.It could be the baseball player who gets injured after the draft or the driving instructor who suddenly goes blind. More realistically, it’s the sales executive who develops a fear of public speaking. Or the swimmer who feels allergic to water. Maybe even the blogger who … [Read more...] about Do You Have a Career Backup Plan?