It hasn’t been a good year for Goodyear. COVID concerns disrupted operations, second-quarter sales were down 41% from a year ago, and to add insult to injury, last week, company officials found themselves in crisis management mode. A slide from a Topeka diversity training session, labeled “Zero Tolerance,” itemized two columns of permitted and banned...
Most older people who have been in the workplace for a while know about anxiety on the job. This is not college-style stress: “I know I am going to bomb my exam,” or “Are we about to break up?” type of anxiety, but an increasingly persistent or acute kind of tension that sticks in the pit […]
In the dating world, ghosting seems a handy way to facilitate a lucky escape after a cringe-worthy, worst-date ever. You know you’ve been ghosted when texts go unanswered, and you’ve been unfriended on Facebook. But in this record-setting job market, business ghosting, e.g., crickets when a finalist asks if she got the job or the sudden disappearance of […]
Have you noticed lately that you aren’t entirely on your game, your attention-span seems sluggish, or you’re burned out by 3 pm? It could be that you are too busy juggling work, life, and family to focus on work. Or it could be that what you do or don’t put in your mouth is affecting your performance. We […]
Years ago, I took some time off to stay at home with my young boys. Previously, I had worked in a demanding position in editorial for a publishing company. After I married, I moved overseas, had children, and when my youngest turned two, I knew it was time to rejoin the working world. Since there were no publishing […]
I recently hired a young man named Bud, and he worked hard to deserve the name. On day one, Bud was friendly, enthusiastic, and integrated easily with the rest of the staff. He impressed me with his aptitude, and I was excited about his potential. However, soon I started noticing Bud was unusually low key in the mornings […]
#1 The Fluid Labor Pool With unemployment still at record lows and roughly 7 million jobs available, finding, hiring, and retaining, the best talent is proving to be a challenge for hiring managers. Job seekers have the upper hand in this market depending on skillsets and industry demand. What does this mean for hiring, at least in the short […]
There’s nothing like voter fear to get politicians moving! In an unusual show of bipartisanship, the Mass legislature quickly came together in June and produced Bill H.4640, commonly called the “Grand Bargain.” Signed immediately by governor Charlie Baker, the public-private collaboration places Massachusetts in the company of seven other states that have...
No, wait! Don’t X this tab! Your blood pressure is probably soaring at the thought of yet another article on “workplace wellness.” I get it. But this isn’t just another nag about that second donut you ate in the break room. In fact, a minute ago I consumed a chocolate brownie while imagining how to […]
If you’ve ever needed another reason to quit smoking, it’s this: Depending on your profession and where you live, you might not get hired. Don’t even think about applying at UMass Memorial Marlborough Hospital, WellSpan Health in Pennsylvania and Maryland, or Cleveland Clinic and The MetroHealth System in Ohio if you are in healthcare and […]
The holiday season is the best time of year to recognize and thank employees for their dedication and hard work. However, this year’s barrage of sexual harassment headlines may have some nervous employers contemplating going all Grinch on their staff and canceling the festivities. What happens if the combination of party buzz, mistletoe, and fancy […]
If your company is in the process of transforming itself into a sustainability-oriented enterprise, you are not alone. According to a 2016 GreenBiz report, 51 percent of U.S. companies have disclosed greenhouse gas reduction targets (The State of Green Business, 2016). But part of sustainability management includes a human resource component, not just...
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