All About Working

There is an excellent article today provided by Market Watch about the way employers are offering lower salaries than they normally would have. 

Since the labor market began picking up steam, companies hiring for entry-level or administrative spots with pay that would normally range from $40,000 to $50,000 have been offering workers $28,000 to $38,000, said Randy Miller, founder and chief executive of ReadyMinds, a Lyndhurst, N.J., a provider of online career counseling and coaching.

For workers further up the food chain, an offer that might have been $100,000 a few years ago is now coming in at $85,000 or $90,000, he said.

It seems that there is still a high level of sensitivity to pricing today.  But how low should a worker go when it comes to accepting an offer?

Read the entire article here.

• Go personal and communicate – make employees feel like “part of the family.”
• Give attention and recognition
• Give chances to learn new skills

Read the entire article here.

If you have ever wondered if you are a workaholic or a person who works hard, why not find out?  The Wall Street Journal online published a 25 question test that you can take to find out.

The test takes about 10 minutes and the results come back instantly.  Workaholics will enjoy that!  My own results showed that I am a hard worker but not a workaholic.  It took a long time for me to achieve that status.  But the benefits of having a life besides working have been worth it.

What happens when the workaholic status becomes company culture badge of honor?  Can people maintain that pace and still be productive?  Comments on this are appreciated.

Information about a new book by Geoff Colvin came across my desk a few days ago.   Aptly titled “The Upside of the Downturn,” the book is aimed at examples of businesses that are using the current economic recession to build the company for tomorrow since the current time is not the best of times.

Turning to other opportunities rather than trying to play out a strategic plan that was developed before things went so awry is a key ingredient to the concepts Colin explores.  Setting new priorities seems an obvious first task, yet it is surprising how many managers remain rooted in behavior and responses designed for a different business climate.

These managers must begin to focus on what to do — not just to save the ship but to make it fighting-fit for the battles ahead.  He writes:

The downturn is worldwide, so your canvas of opportunity is huge.

He also writes:

The downturn is long, which means many companies won’t survive it.

And so he sets up for discussions about companies that are using a different mentality to plan for survival and rewards in the future.

The book is available through Amazon.com.

Here’s an article that was published on examiner.com by Jennifer L. Taylor that discusses “10 Tips for Successful Tweeting” to help you become a more successful tweeter.  Some of the ideas include:

• Completing your profile
• Getting to know your audience
• Working with Twitter on smartphones

After my own experience yesterday with not being able to access Twitter, I realize how dependent I am becoming on this new tool.  So these tips are coming at the right time!

If you found yourself unable to access Twitter or Facebook yesterday, you were not alone. Twitter went down between 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EST on Thursday morning, August 6. Service was spotty afterward with network timeouts. By evening, things seemed to have improved. Reason given for the problem, Denial of Service.

Denial of Service occurs when hackers overload a web site with server requests and prevent legitimate users from using the site.

Facebook appears to have encountered similar issues but not as severe as Twitter.

This writer was a bit surprised to learn how dependent she had become on these two sites for instant information, especially concerning an event taking place that day. It was quite a revelation to learn how quickly new technology had a part of my planning process!

“Paula Abdul quits American Idol.”

Yes, this morning’s news is filled with reports that Paula Abdul will not be returning as a judge on the ever-popular American Idol television show. According to sources close to her, FOX offered her a contract and it was her decision to turn it down. Ms. Abdul has been the judge who continually provides some sort of positive feedback to the contestants when they perform on the show. She was a welcome balance between the harshness of Simon Cowell and the “Hey Dog” and pitchiness comments by Randy Jackson.

This turn of events got me wondering several things:

Was money the issue?

Did last season’s addition of a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi change the way Ms. Abdul was able to do her work? She seemed to change parts of the style she had been using last season and perhaps it didn’t feel right?

Is Ms. Abdul losing the satisfaction and motivation for working with the show?

Although American Idol is show business, it still is just that, business. And as all businesses do, it employs people and provides them with jobs. Many of the same dynamics are at work here as we see in businesses every single day. So what can we glean from this situation?

First the money issue. Figures of 45 million dollar contracts for host Ryan Seacrest have also been in the headlines. So perhaps the value of the job being done is in question?

But is money the only reason why people work? Research has shown that it is not the highest factor on the list of why people stay at a job

Could it be that the desire to work on other things has become more important? Maybe, the motivation that Ms. Abdul once had on the American Idol set is no longer there?

How many times do we question the value of why we remain on a job?

Do we remain doing work that gives us no satisfaction because we have to keep the paycheck coming? Do we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn new skills that could lead us to a more satisfying way to make our living?

Sometimes it takes a headline in the news to look at our own situations and realize that motivation plays a critical role in our work life. If money is your motivation, then go for the job that is going to get you the dollars you seek. If deriving satisfaction from the work you do is the motivating force, then make sure you are getting the amount that you need.

Seek out opportunities that best fit the goals of your life.

Human-resource consultants Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. and Hay Group estimate that median pay raises for 2009 ranged between 2% and 3%. The U.S. Labor Department says pay for the average worker increased 2.2% in the year ended March 31, down from 3.2% in the year-earlier 12-month period.

For next year, the firms are projecting slightly bigger raises of 3%.  The Hay Group reports that it is the smallest increase in the 29 years it has done its survey and Watson Wyatt says its prediction is among its smallest ever. The Watson Wyatt and Hay Group surveys try to cover a broad range of workers, including both salaried and hourly employees in most industries.

In a July 2, 2009 article on Forbes.com, Ashlea Ebeling reported that as unemployment continues to rise, more Baby Boomers are moving to self-employment.  Unemployment rates in June continued to climb for those aged 55 and older–to 7.7% for men and 6.4% for women, up from 3.1% and 3%, respectively, in December 2007.

The article states:

Fortunately (for those in this age group and for the economy), older workers have recently demonstrated they have a plan B: Work for themselves.

Over the past decade, the highest rate of new-business creation has been posted by the 55 to 64 age group, Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., charity devoted to entrepreneurship, notes in a new report, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom.” Using data from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the study finds that from 1996 to 2007, Americans aged 55 to 64 averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third higher than those aged 20 to 34.. .

. . . The image of the 20-something entrepreneur obscures the trends that have persisted for a decade,” Stangler says.

. . . The older-entrepreneur phenomenon predates the current recession. For example, a Kauffman survey of 5,000 firms started in 2004 showed that 18% of the founders were 55 or older.

The migration of older workers to self-employment helps explain a seeming anomaly in the job numbers. Even as their unemployment rate grows, so too does the total employment of those 55 and older.

It turns out that it is not just the workers who have been laid off that are heading toward entrepreneurial ventures; this movement includes those who are coming out of retirement as well.  Chances appear to be slim that many of these people will return to corporate jobs.

This may be the start of a new entrepreneurial era in the workplace.

Friday, June 26th has been designated as Take Your Dog to Work Day.  It’s being given more publicity this year so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

I’m able to have my own dog at work because many of my days are spent working from my downstairs office.  My dog, Emma, will sometimes visit with me, but she seems to be able to sense the “crunch” times and stays out of the way!  She alerts me when a delivery is taking place and when the mail is arriving.  So in a sense, she is my upstairs employee!!

Emma and I wish the best to everyone who will be participating in this event tomorrow.