The Work/Life Balancing Act

Why more employers are offering year-end bonuses

First the good news: 

It looks like the end of the year bonus is making a comeback.

A recent national survey conducted by Challenger, Gray and Christmas found about 75 percent of private employers planned to offer some type of year-end bonus this year. That number, according to the survey, is up from 53 percent in 2011.

Julie Talenfeld, president of Boardroom Communications in Plantation, Florida, participated in that trend. She says she has given out generous holiday bonuses to well deserving staff for the past 25 years. She says she also gives 10-percent commissions on new business and employees get spot bonuses for every media hit they generate for clients every day. Julie has found giving incentives to employees creates a happier work environment.

According to the survey, 14 percent of bosses will give out money -- $100 or less -- to all employees and 13 percent will give some type of non-monetary gift as a sign of appreciation.

But not every employer agrees or wants to give out year-end bonuses: 

While there may be more happy employees as 2012 comes to an end than this time last year, the Challenger survey showed that about a fourth of the companies said there would be no bonuses this year. Bonuses are a particular rarity in public sector jobs.

Here's why some employers have gone the year-end bonus route -- they're workers are being asked to do more, more, more and bonuses are a one time boost - a way to reward employees without having to make a long-term payroll commitment. 

Now, for a reality check: 

Challenger said his company isn't projecting many changes when it comes to pay raises. Instead, he said, companies are expected to "hold down salary ranges" in 2013.

Knowing this, what are your thoughts on year end bonuses? Should employees take them and be thankful or negotiate for a raise. And, should employers give everyone the same amount as a year end bonus or should it be based on an employee's performance? 

 

Top Workplace Trends in 2012 and What to Look for in 2013

This was a challenging year for both employers and workers as we tried to adjust to the new norm in business -- doing more with less. Now changes are afoot from how our offices look to who runs them and what equipment will be used.             

Here are the trends we saw in 2012 and what to expect in 2013:

• Employee engagement. There’s no polite way to say it — workers have had it. In 2012 we lost our happy-to-have a job mindset and now we want appreciation. For some of us it’s been a few years since we’ve had a raise or bonus. An October survey by by MSW Research and Dale Carnegie Training found only a mere 29 percent of employees are fully engaged. Experts say if our employers want us more engaged, they need to boost our confidence in senior management and look for ways to reward us. “Companies are going to have to decide, do we want to invest in our people again?” says John Hollon, vice president for editorial at TLNT.com, which follows workplace trends. “They will need to reconnect with workers in ways haven’t had to worry about for about 5 years now.”     

• Top performers are lifelong learners. It hasn’t been easy, but American workers finally realize we need to take control of our careers. Most companies cut way back on training and on education reimbursement at the same time we discovered a need to add to our skills toolbox. Being the top sales person, or even the best doctor now means we have to keep up with new technology, trends and approaches and we have to do it on our own time and our own dime.

• Social media at work is a complicated mix. Through social media, companies now have an amazing way to market their handbags or food delivery services. But this new outlet for driving sales is also driving management crazy. As American workers turned to Facebook and Twitter to rant about cheap bosses or snotty customers, we saw employees getting fired and employers getting sued. Meanwhile labor lawyers are busy drafting social media policies for companies trying to protect themselves by letting workers know what’s acceptable. The rise of social media in the workplace isn’t likely to slow and employers will have to prepare themselves for the benefits -- and the hazards.

• Flexibility is king. Sure we want to be paid well. But more importantly, we want to know that our employers “get it.” We want the day-to-day flexibility in how, when and where we work to better manage our lives. This year, we even saw reports that claim almost half of all workers would give up some of their salary to get more flexibility. We also saw smart employers of all sizes begin to position flexible work as part of their culture. Guillermo Rotman, president of Regus Americas, predicts more businesses will offer their employees flexible work options going forward, particularly as technology untethers us from our desks.

• We’ve got to get up. This was a breakthrough year in understanding how we work affects our health. Sitting at our desks, staring at a screen all day is making us fat and unhealthy. We saw a new pressure on employers to encourage workplace heath initiatives and pay more attention to physical activity at work. And we’ve realized we need to work differently, to get up and move around because mini-breaks, just one minute long throughout the day, can actually make a difference.

• Wellness programs are on the rise. Our employer really does care if we eat that doughnut or go for the apple. In fact, he cares so much, in many instances, he’s going to pay us to lose weight or participate in a wellness program. By now, employers realize that if we engage in healthy behavior, they benefit from lower healthcare costs.  Expect this trend to get even more attention because The Affordable Care Act will expand the ability of employers to reward workers who achieve health improvement goals.

• Overtime. Is stopping on the way in for doughnuts for coworkers considered on the clock time? It could be. Companies are running into trouble with workers who claim there’s a rampant disregard for overtime pay provisions. In 2012, employees filed more than 7,000 federal lawsuits commonly known as wage-and-hour cases against their employers or former employers, records show. Losing these cases proved costly for some employers, and lawyers say they see these types of lawsuits continuing in 2013 along with a new interest in management training on what counts as a violation.

•  Boomers retiring. We’ve been told it is coming, now it is happening. Experts say 2013 is the year that kicks off a wave of boomers retiring from careers they held for decades. “Some industries already are very focused on how to replace those exiting employees,” says Jennifer Schramm, manager of workplace trends and forecasting for the Society of Human Resource Management. Others will have to work hard and fast to develop the next generation of corporate leaders. At the same time, retirement creates a need for older workers to find ways to stay productive. Look for retirees to seek out opportunities to find work that helps them contribute to the greater good or causes they care about, says Marci Alboher, VP of Encore.org and author of  The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life. “They will be looking for opportunities to do something impactful.”

•  Newly designed workplaces. Our workspaces are changing along with our work habits. As collaboration becomes more important, we are finding that workplaces that allow for sharing ideas are the new norm — open floor plans and collaborative work environments, standing work stations and dual monitors. We also see an increasing number of co-working or shared office space and virtual offices, preparing us to say goodbye to office cubicles of the past and look forward to opportunities for better networking. And while we’re at it, we will likely be bringing our own device with us to the office of the future. A Cisco study showed a staggering 95 percent of organizations permit employee-owned devices in the workplace. This includes laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Leading organizations recognize the challenges and opportunities that these trends bring. For most, the belt tightening is over and 2013 will be the year to refocus on top talent and move forward together.

 

 Wellness at Work (expect to see more of it!)

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/23/3151931_p2/the-top-workplace-trends-of-2012.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/23/3151931/the-top-workplace-trends-

of-2012.html#storylink=cpy

When does workplace stress turn into burnout?

All of us have workplace stress of some sort -- maybe we're dealing with a demanding boss or a mounting pile of paperwork. And then there's technology, making it more difficult to disconnect.

But there's that line when crossed turns stress into distress.

Today, one of the most respected medical professionals in the country weighs in on stress and provides some insight on how he recommends his patients better cope with it.

Readers, I hope you find this helpful and if you have ways of coping with stress that work for you, please share!

 

Work/Life Balancing Act

Tips for managing workplace stress

      By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN     

 

  

 

Many of us struggle with stress, but some cross over into the danger zone. The telltale sign: a near or complete lack of work-life balance.

 










  

  

                           

                

                

                                   

                                                           
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Stress at a glance

• Health problems linked to stress include heart attack, obesity, depression, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome and diabetes.

• Common traits of burnout are excessive devotion to work and productivity at the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships; inability to delegate tasks.

• Symptoms of burnout: chronic fatigue, cynicism, emotional exhaustion, failure to take time off, headaches and explosions of anger.

• Almost a third of all workers feel “extremely stressed” at work. About 14 percent of workers felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn’t.

Sources: The American Institute of Stress; Charles Nemeroff, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

 

      

                                              

By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN

cindykgoodman@gmail.com

  

            There are end of the year deals to close, budgets to meet, gifts to buy, and just thinking about it has your stress level rising. But when does stress turn into distress and at what point should your employer intervene?

For American workers, coping with workplace stress is a year-round concern that employers are beginning to see as partly their responsibility. Three-fourths of employees believe that workers have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago and nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage it, an Attitudes in the American workplace study by the American Institute of Stress shows.

Most of us harried workers struggle with the daily pressure of time demands, but some cross over into the danger zone. The telltale sign that a breakdown is near is a complete lack of work-life balance.      

“Often these are the people working 14 hours a day and expecting others to do it, too,” said Charles Nemeroff, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “I’ll ask them when is the last time you had fun and they look at me like are you kidding?”

Service professionals such as lawyers, financial advisors, accountants and doctors particularly are susceptible with increased client demands and technology making it more difficult to shut off job stress. Often they push themselves harder and harder to achieve.

Attorney Harley Tropin, a shareholder at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, just doesn’t see that formula leading to a long career. He wants to help his lawyers strive for balance and change the way their brains and bodies react to stressors. Last month, he brought in medical experts to help them identify stressors and learn coping skills such as breathing and meditation. “It’s important to deal with stress the right way, to make a conscious effort to do something about it and not assume it will take care of itself,” Tropin says.

Tropin personally defuses the stress of arguing in court, by practicing Mindful Meditation, a widely adopted form of meditation that has become increasingly popular with business leaders. It involves focusing on your mind on the present and becoming aware of your breathing.

Alan Gold, a federal judge for the Southern District of Florida, also practices mindfulness meditation and has become a proponent of teaching practices for stress reduction to attorneys. Gold has advocated for the creation of a task force on the mindful practice of law with the Dade County Bar Association and the local Federal Bar Association.

Gold says he regularly sees attorneys shuffle into his courtroom on the brink of a breakdown. He links erosion in the degree of civility in the profession with lawyers’ inability to cope with extreme stresses.

They may lash out in anger at a co-worker, assistant, client — or even a judge.

“If you recognize you’re in this situation, the next step is to get out of it. The quickest and simplest way is to slow down and take time to focus on your breathing. This is not something that comes naturally for lawyers. It’s counterproductive to their bottom line way of doing business,” he says.

Outside of meditation, some employers are turning to on-site yoga, or just simply workload management to help employees better manage stress. At Kane & Company, a South Florida CPA firm, employees recently learned from a psychologist how to become more effective controlling their job-related stress. Suggestions included breathing exercises, exercise in general and focusing on relaxation techniques. Monte Kane, the firm’s managing director, says the workshops help his staff with everyday stress, but he makes it his responsibility to know when they have entered the burnout zone.

Read more...

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/11/3137810/tips-for-managing-workplace-stress.html#storylink=cpy

Encourage more women on boards on 12-12-12

If we want products and services that reflect how we think and what we need, women should be concerned with companies that exclude us from their corporate boards. 

But this week, on 12/12/12 at 12 p.m. all of us can make a difference. Across the country, 2020 Women on Boards is hosting luncheons to rally support for their efforts to get more women on boards by 2020. In Florida, Women Executive Leadership is hosting the lunch event. Romaine Seguin, President of UPS Americas will speak about her experience as a Director and why it is so important for women to have representation in America's boardrooms.

I will be at the WEL event in Miami moderating the discussion and taking questions and suggestions from the audience for how to move the needle to see more women in leadership.

Lunch events will be going on in 27 cities and women and men have signed up to be part of this pretty cool event.  Sign up to be a part of the 12-12-12 event in your city.

Today, ION issued its 2012 Report on women's progress on corporate boards. The report, Follow the Leaders: It can Happen Here profiles 11 corporations that have experienced financial success and made boardroom gender diversity a high-priority business initiative.  Tomorrow, Catalyst issues its report: the Catalyst 2012 Census of Fortune 500: No Change for Women in Top Leadership seven years and counting. 

Both reports show a lack of progress in moving the women into top leadership along with suggestions for change. Fortunately, we're seeing some attention on this very important issue!

 

 

How to strike work life balance as an entrepreneur

Read more here: http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83451b26169e200e5530880ff8834/compose/preview/post#storylink=cpy

I consider myself somewhat of an entrepreneur but one day I hope to have a booming business with employees. For now, I'm on my own and I'm watching closely as others choose the entrepreneurial path. As glamouous as it sounds, I've seen that entrepreurship comes with challenges -- particularly strking a work life balance.

Today, Michael Castilla is my guest blogger and shares his work/life experiences as startup founder, student, specialist,and ultimately as an entrepreneur born and raised in Miami, FL by a
middle-class Cuban family. Connect with him @micr0bitz.

 

 

 

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/worklifebalancingact/#storylink=cpy

An entrepreneur, regardless of age, has to make very important and usually risky decisions. The earlier you realize who you are and are able to establish long-term goals, the earlier you are able to establish a path for yourself. I've made many important decisions over the past few years that have influenced my path, and I've narrowed down 4 key opportunities and experiences I'd like to share with other aspiring entrepreneurs.

1. Identifying myself as an entrepreneur

 

Identifying myself as an entrepreneur was a big deal. I've been involved with technology and business for the past five years, but only within the past two years have I been able to truly discover my inner entrepreneur. Where could he have been hiding? This wasn't my first hurdle, but it was crucial for every other step in my career to happen.

What is the definition of entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.  -Howard Stevenson

Upon making this realization, I've been able to create more opportunities for myself. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle.

Now with this new word in my head, I've been able to search for entrepreneur-related terms, which has lead to me to explore new and exciting content I never knew existed, right at my finger tips. The Internet is a beautiful thing.

By the definition above, this pursuit of opportunity may sound risky. How can you pursue something you're not entirely sure about? You would be surprised that you can make a career out of taking risks and following your passions. The key idea to take from this definition is that entrepreneurship is an opportunity.

Lesson: Define who you are and never look back.

The path of an entrepreneur sure is bumpy, but it's most definitely satisfying. My only regret is that I didn't realize who I was at a younger age. I hope any aspiring students who read this will be motivated to identify themselves as early as possible.

When your teachers and parents tell you "be the best you can be", what they really mean is you have the opportunity to be whoever you want and to do something you really love and to not let anyone stop you, including them.

2. Pursuing a career following my passions

 

Next up, do you know someone unsatisfied with their job? It happens to majority of the American working population.

Upon my senior year or high school, I had collected enough resources and networking via the Internet to decide to pursue a career following my passions as, what I consider myself today, a Freelance Digital Craftsman. It's a semi-broad title, but it means I create digital stuff for different companies. I was fond of the idea of making money in your boxers from your laptop. I've recently decided to go full-time with this career, but just a year ago, I was an unmotivated college student who literally couldn't wait to graduate.

Ultimately, I've been taking my 20's seriously. I've decided to take the next 10 years (crap, that's a lot) to get good at this tech stuff. My visions for technology are great and I believe I can make a successful career from these passions.

Lesson: Believe in your passions and relevant opportunities will present themselves.

I'm fortunate to have had my sights set on technology and business since middle school and not a day goes by where I'm not involved with either. Because I'm passionate about these areas and I'm pursuing them as a career, I have the opportunity to not have to commit to a job that doesn't interest me.

3. Moving to a central location within Miami

I had the opportunity to temporarily live on South Beach this past summer and I jumped on it immediately. This opened up my eyes to local business opportunities and allowed me to realize the potential of the community I've been living in my entire life.

Since then I've moved into a house in Little Havana, where I've had much easier access to Brickell and Wynwood, two of the hottest districts in Miami right now.

I was previously living with my parents in Kendall. There were many benefits to running a home-based startup, especially since I had no commute, rent was free, high-speed Internet, and my parents were there to support me. What more could you ask for?

But asides from those great benefits, I was spending too much time at my desk behind my computer, away from all the real action. I yearned for more work experience and engagement with other like-minded people.

If you're eager for creating connections, you should interact with many people on a day to day basis both off and online.

Lesson: Conquer local, before global. Take advantage of the invaluable resources in your own city. Research products created by local startups and find out who's hiring. Not everything you can find locally can be found online.

4. Becoming a member of a co-working space

 

I'm proud to say that that Miami now offers a variety of co-working spaces. This leads me to the latest and most important decision I've made this year. I recently became a flex member of Pipeline Brickell, a professional co-working space on the 8th floor of South Tower. On the first day they opened, I showed up with a big smile, met the staff, and signed up! Up until my first visit, I had been following their social media presence but after a tour of the facilities, I was literally sold.

Since joining just last month, I've already become more connected within Miami than I've been my entire life living here. I attended their official launch party in early November, which was very successful and has already lead to new opportunities. Since making these moves, it's been very enjoyable to work so close to home. I can park my car in Mary Brickell Village and walk a few blocks over to Pipeline.

I'm also particularly excited about The LAB Miami's big expansion to their own warehouse. They're hosting HackDay at their new facilities in December, but they're officially opening January 2013. Once they're up and running, they will have the potential to really capture Miami's potential and put our talent to good work.

Lesson: Like-minded people come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

My Current Life/Work Balance

If the concept of a 9-5 position makes you cringe, this should make you smile. The freedom of an freelance entrepreneur's work schedule is highly attractive, leaving more time for family and friends, but there are still only 24 hours in a day. As an entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to be creative with your schedule, as long as you're still putting in the hours.

Daily exercise and a smart diet have also attributed to a healthy work/life balance. As a freelancer, you come to learn staying health is very important for business. In no way have I chosen the path of least resistance. I haven't necessarily chosen to create my own path, but I have chosen a path least followed. You don't always have to re-invent the wheel, sometimes just spinning it will do the trick.

Most importantly, I've realized no one is going to make these decisions or create these opportunities for me. The younger you get involved with problem solving, whether it be parking issues in the city or complex programming design patterns, the more prepared you will be to make important decisions down any path you decide to create or follow.

As an entrepreneur, you're the key player on your team, the ball is always in your court, you're a referee, and a goalie. There are very little rules in this game and no one tells you what to do or how to do it. Create your own opportunities!

If this article sparks any interest in you, please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or comments. I would love to hear from you! michaelcastilla.com / @micr0bitz

 

Why aren't women lawyers reaching the top of their firms in pay and respect?

Years ago, the American Bar Association saw cause for concern. There were lots of female lawyers but much fewer female partners. So they set up a commission to look into why.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk to Patricia Gillette, a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. I was prompted into a discussion with her by a gender discrimination lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in New York against Miami's Greenberg Traurig, one of the 250 largest law firms in the country.

The lawsuit made various bold claims against Greenberg.

Former shareholder Francine Friedman Griesing alleges that Greenberg pays women less, promotes them at lower rates than men and virtually freezes them out from high-level managerial positions. She says women at the firm are denied their fair share of origination credit and internal referrals. Griesing also says although she was a partner, the firm's three tiered equity structure classified her into the lowest level, while less qualified men were put in the higher, more lucrative levels. She is seeking to represent a class of current and former women shareholders at the firm. 

 

Her claims of gender bias were concerns I've heard before, raised by women at various large law firms including Greenberg Traurig.

So I asked Patricia her thoughts on whether women are making real progress advancing at the country's law firms and whether pervasive gender inequity remains a problem. Patricia mentioned that the current ABA President Laurel Bellows initiated a gender equity task force this year to address bias against and equal pay for women in law.

Patricia said in recent years, the tiered partnership -- equity and non equity -- has been problem for women lawyers. It has been a way for large law firms to claim they have women partners but hide the fact that they are not promoting women into equity positions where they truly share in the profits and management decisions.

In October, the National Association of Women Lawyers came out with an revealing report:

• It found that law firm structure has important effects on women's career paths and that they have a greater chance of becoming equity partner in one-tiered firms. Meanwhile, women are increasing clustered in positions with little opportunity for advancement in law firm leadership.

 

• It also found women's compensation lags men's at all levels with the greatest discrepancy at the equity partner level, where women typically earn only 89% of what men make. The gap between the median compensation of male and female equity partners cannot be explained by differences in billable hours, total hours, or books of business.

 

Gillette says the ABA gender equity task force wants firms to rethink way they consider compensation, making it less subjective. A goal is to create a model law firm compensation policy to ensure women are paid equally to men.

“This has been sacred ground and firms don’t want anyone messing with compensation, but closed systems like Greenberg lead to mischief. We think putting transparency into compensation systems is imperative going forward,” she said.

Don't expect firms to readily buy in.

At Greenberg, all compensation decisions are made by CEO Richard Rosenbaum, with input from other shareholders.

Greenberg's Hilarie Bass said the firm’s compensation system has always been based on meritocracy that has nothing to do with gender. “We’re compensated based on value to clients and quality of our legal work. We prefer a closed system because it enables a more collegial atmosphere to exist.” Bass also said every year the the number of women who are big originators of new business increases as does the number of women who receive top compensation.

Still, with a closed system, it's difficult for women at the firm to confirm that to be true.

Gillette said this lawsuit may help Greenberg and other firms realize they need to work harder on getting more women into positions of leadership. While she acknowledges that there are some women lawyers who don't want to reach the top tier at their firms, she says many do. “We’ve been talking and begging firms to look at these issues for so long,” Gillette said. “I’m sorry it takes a lawsuit for firms to think about this but lawsuits are the only thing lawyers understand." 

Do you believe gender discrimination is present at big law firms? How much of pay inequity and lack of advancement is from women pulling back, seeking better work life balance, and how much of it is the way law firms are managed and structured?

 

How to brand yourself as a remarkable employee

At some point or another, we all need a career boost. Whether you’re going into the dreaded performance review or need to find a new job, expanding and grooming your professional brand will always be a priority if you want to advance yourself.

But, how can you forgo the same tried solutions and become a remarkable employee? More importantly, how can you boost your career in the process, particularly in the eyes of a supervisor?

Today my guest blogger is Morgan Norman, CEO of WorkSimple, the social performance application that fundamentally changes the way employees and companies view performance and each other. You can connect with Mr. Norman and WorkSimple on Facebook and @getsimple on Twitter. As we close out the year, it may be the ideal time to put his tips to good use.

 

 
1. Set a focus: Believe it or not, your manager may not know what you do on an everyday basis.
In fact, they may assume that you’re working on a certain objective when it’s been passed on to someone else or no longer relevant. You typically have four to five focuses, depending on your role. Setting concrete focuses and then assigning goals under that focus can give your manager the feedback they need, while at the same time cluing them in on why you deserve the promotion, salary bonus, or job. Setting a focus also lets your manager know what your strengths are — which, again, they may not be aware of.

2. Go visual: We live in a visual world, so why shouldn’t your work portfolio follow suit? A great way to showcase your work is to have a visual storyboard that tells your personal WorkStory. Plus, you no longer need to be a designer to build a biography of your accomplishments. Many platforms out there make it easy to showcase your work in minutes, helping you manage your own work portfolio. Additionally, visual storyboards can help you be that remarkable employee. First, your manager can see exactly what you accomplished, what you’re working on, and how you got there. Next, a visual element is much easier to relay than words on paper. After all, if there are visual elements in your portfolio, it makes your work exciting, which puts you on a higher plateau than your competition.

3. Tailor your content: When you’re in a room with a manager, do you think they want to hear about the work you did last year or the work you did last week? Probably the latter. By tailoring your content to what matters now or in the recent past, you give your manager insight on your current achievements and objectives. Think about setting a few focuses (as I stated above), and tailoring your content towards it. That way, your manager can see what you’re working on in real-time.

4. Share your accomplishments: Take control of your career by transforming
how you share work and capture your accomplishments. For example, you can create a work portfolio that allows your best work to shine. Further, you can also highlight your top five accomplishments and relay to your manager why hitting these goals made an impact on your company. When it comes down to it, you can’t transform team or company culture without sharing; it takes action. So take it.

5. Get feedback: Endorsements and recommendations of others can have a huge impact in your career. By getting that little check mark, your great work can shine across the organization. Anything from a LinkedIn recommendation to written praise by coworkers, managers, or partners can be that little push you need to be remarkable in the eyes of your supervisor.

What are some approaches you have used to position yourself as a remarkable employee?

 

Why do workers leave unused vacation days on the table?

Are you going to forfeit vacation days this year?

If you're answer is yes, you have lots of company. It's easy to lose track of where you stand with your vacation days --  so ask about days earned and days used and days you can carry over -- and do it now while you still have a chance to schedule time off.

Today, I wrote a Miami Herald column about the increasing number of people who aren't using their paid vacation time -- that's a form of compensation that goes right back to your employer instead of to you. Even if you're not planning a get away, a day off at home helps a lot with work life balance. And, you might even consider spending the day making doctor's visit as the year comes to a close. By now, most people have reached their deductible so it's a great time for any lingering ailments you might want examined.

 

 

Work/Life Balancing Act

Many are feeling the vacation day squeeze

By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN     

American workers are leaving a growing number of vacation days on the table as work demands increase.

        Dwight O'Neal, a sales support representative for Josie Maran Cosmetics, is shown with Josie Maran. He loves his job and doesn't like to take vacation days at this time of the year.    

           

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By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN

balancegal@gmail.com

            Inside Sephora, where nail polishes and perfumes abound, Dwight O’Neal holds out a makeup brush to dab his brand’s illuminizer on a young woman. Over the next few weeks, O’Neal will travel to Sephora stores throughout the Southeast prettying potential customers to pump up sales of Josie Maran products. With his intense schedule during the holidays, taking a vacation day is out of the question.

For O’Neal, an educator and sales support representative with Josie Maran Cosmetics, that means thinking strategically and using his vacation time in February, rather than forfeiting days off at year end.

As 2012 draws to a close, the question looms: Are you going to accidentally forfeit vacation days?     

      For an increasing number of American workers, the answer is yes.

“Now is the time of year that everyone should take note of his or her company’s vacation policy,” says employee benefits expert Joanne Apice. You should know if you can carry over vacation days and if so, how many.

A survey by Harris Interactive found that by the end of 2012, Americans will leave an average of 9.2 days of vacation unused, up from 6.2 days last year. It also found profits per employee are at a 10-year high, mostly because workers are cramming in more hours.

O’Neal says in December he crams in hours at Sephora by choice. He loves his job showing customers how to use Josie Maran’s organic cosmetics and wouldn’t want to take a day off during busy season even if he could. “In retail, December is a blackout period but that’s OK with me. I love being on the floor, interacting with customers.”

Others say they, too, try to be strategic about vacations, well aware of policies on “use them or lose them” and end-of-the-year blackout periods in industries such as hospitality, retail and healthcare. But inevitably, there are those who lose track of where they stand with vacation days.

“There are workers who are scrambling to get days off scheduled,” Apice says. “When you have multiple employees in that situation and you still have work that needs to be done, it is a challenge to balance scheduling and management of the department.”

Yet, for some workers, particularly at high levels, there’s a reluctance to take time off. An increasing number of people say they can’t afford to take all the vacation allotted to them because work piles up. Others conclude that they are just too busy to take time off or don’t want to send the signal that they are not committed.

Peter Mendez, a finance services executive, says he will be among those who leave vacation time unused in 2012, mostly because he fears the mountain of work that awaits upon return. “It is too painful coming back to 2,000 emails.”

Forfeiting vacation time happens even as American bosses encourage employees to take their earned time off. According to an Expedia survey, the majority of Americans workers said their bosses support taking their allotted time off, with only 5 percent who said their bosses weren’t supportive. “Employers give vacation time to recharge so that when you come back you are refreshed and can perform better,” Apice said.

John Morrey, general manager of Expedia.com, said in a statement, “Your vacation days are not a gift, not a luxury. They’re yours to use. Studies consistently show that an ideal work-life balance leads to happier and more productive employees.”

Read more...

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/27/3116029/many-are-feeling-the-vacation.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

Cyber Monday: More companies give approval for shopping at work

 

I woke up early this morning to shop online for an Apple Ipad Mini for my hubby. It took a while to make my purchase because there were no great deals and most stores had no product left. My point is that online shopping often isn't a two minute task and if I waited to do it during my work day, I could easily lose an hour or more of work time.

So, I'm kind of surprised to hear that more companies are OK with their employees participating in Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year.

I'm the first to admit that sales are hard to resist. (The Black Friday numbers prove this true!) In prior years, we've seen the numbers to prove that Cyber Monday is a huge draw...people are going to shop from their cubicles today. But the weird thing is that increasingly, businesses are starting to see online shopping as a boon to productivity, rather than a drain and they're becoming more lenient.

Last year, 60 percent of companies blocked employee access to online shopping sites, according to a blind survey of 1,400 chief information officers from a wide range of US firms. This year, only 33 percent of them blocked access.

John Reed, of Robert Half Technology, a technology firm based in Menlo Park, Calif., which conducted the survey says,  "Many businesses acknowledge the need for flexibility during the hectic holiday season and allow some online shopping at work, within reason."

Reed says "Employers are looking at it from a realistic perspective," The reality is that allowing employees to tackle personal to-do lists at work can help maintain productivity because workers are spared the traffic delays and long lines that accompany holiday crowds.

Reed says. "Even if we have a policy saying we don't want you to do this, employees will find a way. Let's at least acknowledge it and put some parameters in place."   

The Christian Science Monitor talked to some bosses who seemed perfectly OK with letting their employees take a 10 minute break to shop online. I not so sure I would be in that category! (I think they may be WAY underestimating how much time they're really spending) But workers don't want to miss out on deals...According to a survey of 600 consumers by online deal website FatWallet, 62 percent of consumers expect to find the best holiday season deals on Cyber Monday.

So readers, what do you think about employee participation in Cyber Monday? If you were the boss, would you allow it? If an employer bans online shopping at work, is that Grinch-like behavior?

 

What career advice would you give your kid?

Recently, at Media Day, a young Asian enterntainment reporter told high school students how disappointed her parents were in her career choice. She said they wanted her to be an engineer or scientist, a path more Asians take. She explained that her parents finally came around when they saw that she actually got a job in her field, and they realized she was happy.

Her story got me thinking....It's so hard to advise our kids on career paths today because industries are changing so rapidly. I am in the thick of guiding my daughter on what colleges she should apply to and how her career choice plays into that decision. It led to today's Miami Herald column.

 

 

Work/Life Balancing Act

Dear daughter, let me give you some career advice ...

By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN     

Preparing for the New Economy requires a focus on developing skill sets rather than navigating rigid career paths.

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John Swartz is regional director of career services at Everest College.

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By CINDY KRISCHER GOODMAN

balancegal@gmail.com

            My daughter, a high school junior, wants to be a teacher. That doesn’t sit well with my husband, who worries about the state of education and the job outlook. He and I regularly debate whether we should encourage her to pursue this interest, or strongly steer her in another direction.

Today, coaching our kids about career paths is complicated. Many of my reporter and editor friends who witnessed an overhaul of the media world are highly opposed to their kids becoming journalists. Where parents of the past pushed their kids to follow in their footsteps, we want the generation of college-bound kids we raise to go where the jobs will be.

American workers’ experiences during the recession and the uncertainty of the global economy have made many of us more opinionated about what careers our kids pursue. We have witnessed job loss and burnout. We have seen highly educated professionals such as lawyers and bankers lose their jobs. And worse, we have seen college graduating classes face an overwhelmingly tough employment arena. While it’s true that a college degree usually guarantees better wages, the mantra of parents clearly has become: Can you land a decent-paying job with that degree?      

      As parents, we’re just beginning to understand that the next generation will have to navigate the workplace differently. Experts forecast that workers starting out now will switch careers — that’s careers, not jobs — an average of more than three times during their lives. Should parents, then, worry less about guiding our kids into careers and focus more on helping our kids identify skills to succeed in the new economy?

Whether my daughter becomes a teacher or an engineer, her success likely will come from a mastery of technology, languages and communications skills. Most importantly, she will need the mindset to be a problem solver, innovator, risk taker and self marketer. She will need to be prepared to continuously acquire new skills, a lesson my generation has learned the hard way.

“We are fooling ourselves to think young people will get a degree and spend the next 20 years at a single company or in a single industry,” says John Swartz, regional director of career services at Everest College, which has campuses in 30 cities including Miami. “They will have to be more focused on dealing with change. In this new world order, they have to follow the jobs in demand, acquire the right skills or at least transferable skills, and know that the skill set needed might change.”

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/20/3106772/dear-daughter-let-me-give-

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