Blog

Flex Work and Telecommuting: Research Backs Benefits

Alternative work arrangements hit the headlines earlier this year as Best Buy and Yahoo both ended their programs after disappointing earnings at both companies.  But a review of the extensive academic research on this topic revealed by Ed Frauenheim  in his recent article found that companies would benefit from an analysis of the research as they create, review and adjust their policies.

CEO Joly of Best Buy stated that the alternative work approach missed the mark ...

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17
SEP
0

Hiring the Right Managers is Critical for Employee Engagement

Gallup’s latest  employee engagement  survey reveals that  only 30%  of American workers  are engaged and inspired at work, and 20% are actively disengaged, meaning that they are verbalizing  and acting on their discontent.  The cause:  bosses that make their lives miserable.  The other 50% are  more passively  disengaged.

The top 25% of teams – the ones who are best managed, have 50% fewer accidents and 41% fewer defects than the bottom 25%  of teams.  These top teams also have lower healthcare ...

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16
JUL
0

Leadership, Connectedeness, and Your Potential

Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness, and  your ability to connect with people affects your ability to lead since leadership involves influence.  This was the topic at a recent  meeting  of the Atlanta Chapter of  the Society of Human Resource Management. The presenter, Jackie Martin, gave several concrete tips on how to increase your leadership skills and  your effectiveness.

She asked, “How can you make your life better?  How can you add value?”

1. One way is to choose growth ...

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17
JUN
0

Goal Setting and Life Strategy

My Brook and Me

 I remember the brook

streaming though the woods;

spending hours around it,

building forts, wiping the mud off me with skunk cabbage.

I remember the brook on sunny days;

Water babbling over stones and rocks, pieces of wood;

making the water ripple the way it did.

 I wondered what happened to the brook

traveling away from my yard.

I had a goal for my brook

to flow to the ocean…but then what?

I see goals ...

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26
APR
0

What is Your Life Strategy

  • How can you ensure you will happy in your career?
  • How can you ensure that your relationships with your spouse,  partner and other family and friends become a lasting source of happiness for you?
  • How can you  hold true to ethical imperatives and not take shortcuts that will leave you vulnerable?

These are the questions that  Clayton M. Christensen discusses in his 2010 article describing his lecture to the Harvard Business School’s Class of 2010.

Christensen mentions  organizational  behavior guru  Frederick Herzberg who theorizes ...

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2
APR
0

Why Companies Fail to Keep Their Best Talent

Large companies face challenges when it comes to keeping their best performing employees,  says Eric Jackson in an article in Forbes.

He lists ten reasons  why this happens:

1.  Big Company Bureaucracy.   Talented people often have no choice in policies and procedures. Giving them a voice in how things are done  could keep them on board.

2. Failing to Find an Exciting Project for the Talent. Top talent is not motivated by power and money, but to be a part of something that will “change the world.”  Bosses ...

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26
MAR
0

The Five Forces that Shape Competition

Michael Porter has recently revised his strategic management theory in an article in the Harvard Business Review.

Below  is a presentation of the interplay of these five forces.

five-forces

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15
MAR
0

Telecommuting

There is much discussion in HR  circles regarding  Chief Marissa Mayer’s recent decision to  rescind telecommuting as an option at Yahoo.  This begs the question,  are office employees more engaged and productive?

I work from home when  I do not  have scheduled meetings in the office or out of the office at client sites.  For me a home office day means no time commuting and no time getting spiffed-up to go to the office.  In  that saved time I can go ...

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8
MAR
0

Work Less and Be More Productive? Find Out How

Do you work frantically all day long before  immersing yourself in back-to-back afternoon meetings, after eating lunch at your desk?  Are you always behind on emails and find yourself responding  in the evenings and weekends?  Do you always feel harried and exhausted?

In a recent article in the  NY Times, Tony Schwartz cites research that indicates how strategic renewal  – daytime workouts, afternoon naps, longer sleeping hours, more time away from the office, and longer and more frequent vacations,  can lead to greater productivity, job ...

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14
FEB
0

How Happy Are You?

On the radio this morning  I listened to a program that talked about how we measure happiness.  The reporter suggested that perhaps researchers will come up with a happiness measure, and we will hear it in the same conversation that we hear the unemployment rate – now 7.8 %.  Here in the US  it seems to me that  how happy we are in our jobs dramatically affects how happy we are with our lives in general.

So I ask you today, how happy are you with what ...

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8
FEB
0
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