This article in the Dallas Morning News about how to solve the problem of the morning commute by adjusting stoplight timing cracked us up. The story invokes Occam’s Razor (all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best) and then offers technical as opposed to adaptive change.So we’re busting out Occam’s Bigger Razor [...]
Archive for February, 2008
Heartbreak and Justice
This story about a woman who was forced to resign from her job because of her disabled son broke our hearts. When we talk about these workplace issues, we take a light-hearted approach, but as this story shows, the toxic atmosphere in many workplaces is a serious problem. The fact that this woman had to [...]
We [heart] workSMART
We were pleased to see what the good people at workSMART are trying to do. We like the spirit behind Work Proper Hours Day although we question whether this is a case of easier said than done. One person standing up for the right to their time makes for lonely work. (This is why it’s [...]
Technology and the Workplace
This story about how social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are “sneaking into the office” is just a tidbit, but we were intrigued by the last line: “As with instant messaging and wireless access, banning the technology from the office is not effective because it is likely to creep in anyway. It is better [...]
Telework: The Law Nobody Knows About
We were pleased to see a follow up to the post we wrote almost two weeks ago, the one that talked about how U.S. government departments have a mandate to offer telework but don’t. The follow up talks about how 4 in 10 of workers surveyed were unaware they had the option. Obviously this is an [...]
Why You Can't Wait
The other day we ran across some interesting numbers from a Watson Wyatt survey. It seems that a percentage of the companies surveyed are aware that certain aspects of their work cultures cause stress, and that employee stress is having a negative impact on the company’s bottom line. Unfortunately, in each category, the percentage of [...]
If It Works For Millennials . . . .
Great piece in Advertising Age about how to get the best out of the new generation of workers. Rather than tag them as spoiled, the columnist gives some good advice for how managers can change their own behavior to fit in with the times. With the exception of Tip #5 (Handle with Care) this all [...]
See the New Button!
There is a new button on this page, a button we want you to see . . . and use. This very exciting, new, virtual button is directly to the right of this post, and up a little from the picture of the book. There! You found it! We want your stories about why work [...]
Workforce of the Future
One of the challenges of talking about the culture of work is that people can assume that finding a better way is not a “must have” but a “nice to have.” Reducing people’s stress, or making maternity/paternity leave policy more humane, or almost any other “work-life balance” issue can be viewed as important but not [...]
Telework: It's the law
We’ve been sitting on this story for two weeks now because we kept waiting for it to surface in other news outlets. But it hasn’t so we’re going to bust this whole thing wide open. The gist of the story is that, according to Public Law 106-846, federal workers should be allowed to telecommute “to [...]
Managing the Virtual Workforce Part 2:
Exercise Your Technology Savvy
Presented by Jody Thompson
February 23 at 1pm (EST)
