Archive for the 'Generational Hiring' Category

A co-worker recently pointed me to a very interesting blog post by Phil Johnson, president of PJA Advertising, who writes on Ad Age’s “Small Agency Diary” that his office recently renovated and changed from a closed-office environment to a a completely open floor plan with no private offices, with the goal of creating a truly collaborative work space.

With this, of course, came a bit of a new dilemma: With no doors and no high cubicle walls, everyone could suddenly see what everyone else was doing on the computer. Shoe shopping, twittering, gawking at Facebook photos — the works. So Phil came up with a very clear policy on employees’ Internet usage at work, and shared it with his employees.

The statement? I don’t care what you do on the Internet.

It may seem bold, but he explains his reasoning in this post. And I have to say, he has some great points.

In contrast, Helen A.S. Popkin stresses in a recent MSNBC post that “the Internet is not your BFF,” relating the recent story of a would-be Cisco employee who tweeted post-interview:

• Posted by: Amy Chulik on March 24, 2009
• There are 31 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Branding, Economy, Employee Attraction, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Events, Generational Hiring, Social Media, Survey Results, Technology

One more thing to add to the list of things to blame on the economy…

Six-in-ten workers (60 percent) over the age of 60 say they are putting off their retirement due to the impact of the U.S. financial crisis on their long-term savings, according to a survey released earlier this week by CareerBuilder.  According to the press release:

One in ten workers (11 percent) over the age of 60 who are putting off retirement say that the decrease to their savings may now cause them to never retire, while 73 percent think it will take them up to 6 years of extra work to recoup their lost savings. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) feels they can make their money back by working an additional year or two.

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• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on March 23, 2009
• There are 4 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Retention, Generational Hiring, Survey Results

You’ve been busy making birthday gifts out of canned goods containers and constructing a stellar (ah, unused) napkin dress for your next work party, but despite your attempts to be scrappy and creative during this recession we’re experiencing, you’re finding it tough to gear yourself or your employees up on a daily basis. And honestly, you’re having a difficult time seeing the good in it all. What to do?

The great aspect of these down-on-our-luck times is that we may, in fact, not be as down on our luck as it appears. Yes, layoffs are everywhere we look. Yes, keeping morale up is a struggle. Yes, money is tight. We know this, but the underlying current running beneath all of the negativity and sad news is a fighting and entrepreneurial spirit that keeps us fighting through – and moving on. CNN had a great feature yesterday about 9 people who are staying optimistic and finding success in the midst of this recession.

This is not to say that any of this is easy, or that we should all be clapping our hands and celebrating or performing a Toni Basil-style routine of joy (though I’m not not condoning that). But if we look a bit closer, good things are sprouting beneath the surface. Many people are starting their own businesses; others are doing the things they haven’t made time for in the past. Many are getting out of their comfort zones and are finally free of jobs they hated but were too scared to leave.

What positives can you take from our current situation – and how can you pass that positivity on to your employees who need it so much? We recently asked all of you what you’re doing to lift your employees’ morale and promote positivity in the workplace. You had some wonderful ideas! I thought I’d share a few, but be sure to read the full list here.

A few highlights from our awesome commenters:

• Posted by: Amy Chulik on March 4, 2009
• There are 4 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Economy, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Employer Advice, Events, Generational Hiring, Innovation, Leadership Development

It’s 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning. As you’re drinking your double espresso and fumbling through a slew of new e-mails, your phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Hi, boss. It’s Steve.”

“Steve, your voice sounds really muffled. Everything okay?”

“Um, not really. You see, I’m locked in my car trunk. That’s right – I am calling you from the inside of my car trunk. I’m not going to be able to make it into work until I get out of here.”

Hmm. You’ve never got that phone call from an employee? Well, chances are you’ve heard a similarly outlandish excuse at some point. Workers have a slew of crazy excuses for being late to work, and “I got locked in my car trunk by my son” tops our most recent survey of over 8,000 workers. According to the survey, 20 percent of workers arrive late to work at least once a week, up from 15 percent in last year’s survey. One in ten (12 percent) said they are late at least twice a week.

The most popular “standard” reasons for running late are due to traffic (33 percent); lack of sleep (24 percent); and getting the kids ready for school or day care (10 percent). Public transportation woes, wardrobe issues (not of the Janet Jackson-malfunction kind), and dealing with pets are also also common reasons.

But mixed in with those “common” reasons are those that are, well, a bit more odd.

• Posted by: Amy Chulik on February 24, 2009
• There are 8 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Branding, Generational Hiring, Leadership Development, Survey Results

You know the drill.  Sign into your e-mail account.  Sharp intake of breath. Moment of dread. Screen pops up.  Eyes roll. Hundreds of e-mails sit there, waiting for you. Are you really motivated to go through them – and furthermore, actually answer any? Probably not, unless you love torturing yourself have an unlimited amount of time on your hands. Which none of us really do.

As more employees transition to job seekers, the influx of candidates interested in your job opportunity can be overwhelming.  For you as an actively hiring employer, a strong number of quality candidates is a good thing. But a mass of unorganized emails is similar to a mass of unorganized applicants to your job: massively unhelpful if you don’t have a way to organize them.

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• Posted by: Amy Chulik on January 29, 2009
• There are 2 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Attraction, Free Tools You Can Use, Generational Hiring, Survey Results

Most of the marketing conferences I attend these days are heavily focused on social and/or professional networks. These online communities are places where you can do any number of things from share pictures and reminisce about college days to “meet” and interview potential employees. The two big sites out there in this space are Facebook and LinkedIn. Facebook prides itself on being a “social” network and LinkedIn is a “professional” network (don’t call it “social” when talking to their team).

And, at most of these conferences, someone on a panel or on the stage says this, “The lines have blurred between your social life and your work life.” In fact, I just said that on a panel a few weeks ago… Anyhow, it is true. If you are out there, you are out there. And, ultimately you control your destiny – as do those folks you are thinking about hiring.

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• Posted by: Jason Ferrara on November 11, 2008
• There is 1 Comment. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Attraction, Employer Advice, Generational Hiring, Social Media, Technology