5 Crazy Work Rules That Drive Everybody Mad

5 Crazy Work Rules That Drive Everybody Mad We all have times at work where we are left fuming at some nonsensical office rule. If you’ve ever had a boss enforce draconian measures, then you’ll know it’s the quickest way to reduce productivity and lower morale. All it does is inflame resentment towards management. Petty work rules can end up alienating an entire workforce if a manager is not careful. If you think your workplace imposes stupid rules, then Reddit’s discussion thread  has taken it to another level: one organisation insisted employees could only drink water out of company-approved plastic cups, another prohibited afternoon coffee because it was ‘wasteful’, and one PC obsessed office even banned staff from saying “Bless you” if someone sneezed. Almost everyone has a story about petty office rules that appear deliberately designed to annoy you. If you ever worked in an diktat office environment where a power drunk manager thought they were Napoleon, then the following rules are likely to drive you mad. 1. Inflexible demands for attendance, vacation and time off Staff are paid to get results, not for the 9am-6pm timeframe they are supposed to be at their desks. If you have ever been disciplined for being five minutes late, then you’ll already know how infuriating timekeeping rules are. Especially if you consistently work late and do unpaid overtime without a word of recognition from your boss. Another stickler is when management doesn’t trust you when you have a doctor’s appointment or have to take time off for a bereavement. If they don’t trust you when a loved one has died, what does that say about your company’s values? Life is short enough as it is without ridiculous rules demanding forensic proof of illness or a relative’s passing. 2. Unable to work from home With rising commuter costs and work/life considerations, if your job doesn’t require you to be in the office, then why can’t you work from home? Not allowing staff the chance to telecommute is a sign of weakness and only benefits middle-managers who require staff to be physically present to appear in charge. Flexibility is the future of work and clamping down on technological change is not only shortsighted, but bad for staff morale too. 3. Draconian tracking of time Some managers want to know where you are at all time. Counting heads instead of nurturing productivity. Similar to the telecommuting syndrome, if you have a good Wi-Fi connection and use Skype, Hangouts or Slack, then it’s not necessary to be at your desk from 9-6pm. Nowadays you can work in the staff canteen, break out area, or at the coffeeshop across the road. It’s what works that matters, not where you work. 4. Restricting and refusing vacation  requests There’s no quicker way to lower employee  morale than to prevent employees from going on vacation. Managers who aren’t considerate to family holidays and their staff’s private lives will quickly inspire resentment. Obviously not everyone can go on holiday at peak times, but if a manager refuses a holiday request for no good reason, then they won’t be managing that person for very long. 5. Banning social media at work It may seem crazy in the digital age, but many companies have banned their staff from checking Facebook, Twitter and other social pages at work. According to a recent survey, up to 36 per cent of employers have blocked social media; one in five companies block Facebook, while 15% block Twitter, and nearly 14% have banned YouTube. Bearing in mind staff will just use their phones if they can’t access Facebook and Twitter on their desktops, it’s not a rule that is likely to succeed. Arguably it’s counter-productive too, as while social media is a distraction, we use socials for research, news and keeping in touch with colleagues, stakeholders, and other important people. People don’t talk anymore, they talk social and companies need to move with the times. Otherwise they risk losing staff to organisations with more progressive policies. Bonus: Sartorial clamp down and the banning of hats While many startups expect their staff to wear shorts to work. Many corporations still maintain a strict dress code. Some have even banned staff from wearing hats! Dress codes are important at school, but as grown adults it shouldn’t be necessary, especially if your role is not client facing. The bottom line is that you treat people like adults, then they’ll dress like them too. Want results? Treat people right If companies want to motivate their employees, then a progressive manager will prevent silly rules from hindering their staff’s performance. One thing is for sure is that banning hats, afternoon coffee or Facebook isn’t going to improve results in the next financial quarter. What other policies drive you mad at work? Drop us a line today and let us know what office rules need to go into the recycling bin.

Getting Over Job Rejections!

Getting Over Job Rejections! Job hunting can be an intimidating process that affects our  confidence, morale and perceptions of ourselves. After searching for a graduate job for 3 months, I have to admit that I have found more questions than answers about myself and my role in the graduate job market. Those 3 months, however, have taught me a few valuable lessons that I have learnt to apply in my job search. The new year will show how effective they are, but I believe that I have become much better at staying focused on what I want to achieve, I have learnt to deal with rejections, and to stay motivated. Job Rejections 1.  Stay focused Irrespective of how many rejections you have come across in your job hunt, never despair! The truth is that the job market is suffering in line with the recession and unemployment at the moment, so if you are not getting employed, it might not at all be due to your personal history/experience/mistakes. Stay Focused Research the general trends in the job market in the area you would like to work in, because this will help you identify the factors affecting your employability, that are out of your control. Narrow down your options of the jobs you are likely to get employed for. At the same time, do not attribute your lack of success entirely to the job market, forgetting yourself and any possible weaknesses in your own strategy. Once you have identified the trends in the job market, adjust your CV, application tactics and interview technique in line, to maximise your chances of employment. Being focused is vital, so use your time and make a real effort to understand yourself, your  qualities and skills, as well as the job market. This knowledge combined, will not only help  you stay focused on the key issues that are preventing you from getting a job, but they will  improve your confidence and awareness of yourself. 2. Ask for feedback Asking for feedback is a must, if you want to be successful in your job search. Ask for feedback If you do not hear from a company/institution after submitting an application, write to them and ask for their feedback. This gives a good impression, allows you to show your determination, and will help your confidence. Do the same if you have attended an interview, but still did not get the job.  Asking for feedback, whenever possible, will help you identify your mistakes in the application process, your CV,  interview technique. I have a friend who failed an interview, but once she asked for feedback,  the company told her she did great in the interview, and as a result of her interest and determination, a new position was created for her, because the company did not want to lose a dedicated employee to a competitor. Asking for feedback from employers is probably the most important source of information for a job seeker. However, asking friends for feedback could be just as useful. Ask someone to look at your CV, your LinkedIn profile, your Twitter account. Practice with friends before an interview. Do not dismiss this, because it actually is very useful, especially if you lack a lot of interview practice, and confidence, like me. 3. Improve yourself Improve through feedback The next step, after asking for, and receiving feedback, is to implement it, work on yourself and improve your employment prospects. Take one step at a time, and you will realise how much you have improved in a few weeks. I started off, barely knowing anything about the job market, or having any practice of applying for jobs, interviewing, etc. Feedback and research, however, have allowed me to come a long way, I dare say. Write a new CV, practice for interviews, and work on your applications.  However, go even further and explore novel ways of job hunting through social media, for example. Creating a LinkedIn profile, a professional Twitter account, will not only help you practice and promote your selling points, but it will also open a whole new world of opportunities and networking for you. This is the simple strategy, that I have found, of dealing with various job rejections. I am still unemployed in the sense of a full time job but I have started a voluntary position as a blog editor. Moreover, I have developed a whole new outlook in terms of job hunting. I am constantly on the lookout for improvements I can make to myself and my strategy, and when I get rejected, I know its because as much as I am not right for the job, the job is not right for me. Image 1: Credit  Image 2: Credit  Image 3: Credit  Image 4: Credit 23

3 Unfair Practices Women Face in the Workplace How to Fight Them

3 Unfair Practices Women Face in the Workplace How to Fight Them “They go to the same meetings, have the same colleagues, strive for the same promotions. So why are their perspectivesâ€"and experiencesâ€"so dissimilar?” asks the Wall Street Journal’s Nikki Waller. By “they,” she means “men” and “women,” of course. The question’s assertion â€" that men and women experience the workplace in fundamentally different ways â€" is not controversial. Any worker who pays attention to what’s happening around them is aware that, decades after the passage of Title IX and countless other civil right protections for women and people of color, inequality remains very much alive in the workplace. Still, for the uninitiated, the larger truth about workplace gender disparities is shocking. Here’s a look at three workplace gender disparities and unfair practices that each affect millions of hardworking women â€" and what women can do to address them. The Pay Gap Though the gender pay gap has slowly narrowed since the late 20th century, it remains stark. On average, women earn about 80% of their male counterparts in similar roles. It’s not expected to close completely until the second half of this century â€" and that’s far from assured. On an individual and collective basis, women can negotiate for better pay or band together and engage in collective bargaining with their employers. On the employer side, bosses should commit to paying the same wage for the same work, full stop. Wage Theft Workplace wage theft affects men and women alike, but it hits lower-wage service industry employees â€" a disproportionately female cohort â€" particularly hard. Examples of wage theft include: Being forced to clock out early and continue working Being forced to work off the books Denial of legally mandated breaks and meals Being denied rightfully acquired tips Illegal paycheck deductions Women affected by wage theft can file complaints under the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA. Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Labor has limited resources, and not all employees are protected by the full measure of FLSA. Any comprehensive solution demands policy changes, such as harsher wage-theft penalties for employers and higher baseline wages for tipped employees. Divergent Expectations The “pipeline problem,” wherein representation of women in the workplace winnows in inverse proportion to seniority, is at least partly down to gender-divergent expectations about working women’s priorities: namely, that career advancement is secondary to family matters. Problematic as it is, the pipeline problem is just one manifestation of the “expectations gap.” Another is role gendering â€" the process by which professional roles become associated with one gender or another in the broader culture. Gendering affects clients’ perceptions, sometimes with noticeable impact: A recent study found that male bank loan officers were more likely to receive on-time loan payments than female managers. These effects persisted even after the accounts were transferred to managers of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, cultural connotations don’t disappear overnight. The fight against gendered roles will take time and require buy-in from everyone â€" including those who don’t feel they have a direct stake in the outcome. Have you experienced any of these disparities firsthand? Please share your experiences and suggestions in the comments section below.

Career Advice From Humans of New York

Career Advice From Humans of New York You may already be familiar with Brandon Stanton, the talented photographer behind the popular photo blog Humans of New York. Hes become known for  roaming the streets of New York, taking people’s portraits  and interviewing them about their lives. His ability to successfully draw out touching stories from strangers  on the street is beyond impressive. In Fall 2013,  his first book, Humans of New York was released, becoming an immediate bestseller. Earlier this year, he surpassed  over 9 million followers on his Facebook page. The team at Careertopia has been fans for a while now, and I personally did a little happy dance the day my pre-ordered copies of his book arrived. Our fave posts on the blog? Those where people share their stories about career choice and communication at work. Here are a few Ive snagged along the way. If youd like to hear Brandons view on what it takes to discover the work you were meant to do, check out his 30 Under 30 interview at Time.com. To learn  how he gets his subjects to open up and share the most intimate of stories, watch his presentation to University College Dublin from earlier this year. And if you decide to check out his blog or Facebook page, please note that hes currently posting portraits depicting  life near dangerous areas  war zones like Jordan, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hes on a 50-day United Nations-sponsored tour you can read more about that unique opportunity here.

Writing at Work Hyperlinks on a Digital Resume

Writing at Work Hyperlinks on a Digital ResumeWhen you are making use of the latest technology to manage your writing at work hyperlinks on a digital resume can be used to organize your writing. Once you have applied these basic principles of internet marketing, you will begin to see how the best practices in advertising, product and service placement and search engine optimization can become tools that will help your writing efforts.The most essential method for organizing your writing at work hyperlinks on a digital resume is to make use of your social media accounts. You can take advantage of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to promote your digital resume in a number of ways. To the extent possible, link your article to each of your social networking accounts so that readers can immediately see what you are promoting when they visit your page.You can also take advantage of the key words you have chosen to include with your article. In many cases you can even tu rn these keywords into keyword tags that will be included with the hyperlink. In addition, the tags can include your website address. This will make it easier for the search engines to locate you, thus bringing up relevant pages when they search for information.Writing at work hyperlinks on a digital resume should always be done from the perspective of the reader. Even if the URL you are using is written in a conversational tone, you must find a way to keep the reader interested in what you are promoting and why you are promoting it.For example, you can create a question about a current marketing campaign that has worked for you and tell your reader how to join your mailing list by sending them a request to do so. You can also add links to your author page and blog. Finally, the title and summary of the web page should encourage the reader to join your website and follow the link to learn more about your marketing efforts. Keep in mind that successful writing at work hyperlinks on a digital resume will not be effective if you are not making sure that the links you are using are not showing up in search results. You can achieve this by using targeted keywords in the web address as well as in the anchor text.If you cannot find an audience for your site in the search engines or if you are finding it difficult to get readers to click through your links, there is a chance that the writing at work hyperlinks on a digital resume may not be effective. What you can do to ensure success with this type of marketing is to focus on finding audience among people who are more likely to purchase your products and services.An outstanding example of marketing on the internet, which includes the use of niche keywords, can make it possible for your web page to rank in the top search engines. Use your knowledge of search engine optimization and successful writing at work hyperlinks on a digital resume to use them to find the best way to reach your potential customers.

Book review Best Practices are Stupid by Stephen Shapiro - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review Best Practices are Stupid by Stephen Shapiro - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Innovation is a term that gets thrown around a lot but it also seems like there is very little new in this area. You keep hearing the same old advice, the same brainstorming exercises, the same admonitions to just open that suggestion box and get everybody in the workplace to contribute their ideas. In other words, it seems like the field of innovation is somewhat lacking in innovation. Well, today an excellent new book comes out to change all that. Its called Best Practices are Stupid 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition by Stephen Shapiro and it will challenge everything you think you know about innovation. Ive had a chance to read and advance copy and I was blown away by all the great advice in the book. It outlines clearly what any workplace big or small, private or public needs to do to become more innovative. The book is easy to read and the advice is clearly outlined and accessible. It has 40 chapters each of which challenges one of our preconceived notions about innovation. Here are some of my favorite examples from the book: Hire people you don?t like. Because the people you like the least are the people you need the most. Asking for ideas is a bad idea. Define challenges more clearly. If you ask better questions, you will get better answers. The performance paradox. When organizations hyper focus on their goals, they are less likely to achieve those goals. Expertise is the enemy of innovation. The more you know about a particular topic, the more difficult it is for you to think about it in a different way. Basically, this book should be your new innovation bible. Read more about the book and buy it here. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Story Telling is an Art and a Science

Story Telling is an Art and a Science Yes, everyone has a story.   It is difficult for some of us to tell our stories, however. As I work with classes of job seekers to help them develop their accomplishment stories, we work through some of the technicalities of telling stories so they convey the right message in the right way. STAR stories, as many refer to them, are wonderful ways of presenting your accomplishments in a concise, well thought out way.   Learn how to develop your stories here. Practice telling your stories out loud. Evaluate how long it takes you to tell your story Aim for a minute.   Anything longer than that is too long.   People have very short attention spans.   Remember, if they are at all interested in what youve told them, they can ask follow up questions. Make eye contact and be aware of what your body language is saying Your eyes are the window to your soul (or so they say).   Making eye contact shows confidence and allows people to develop a sense of trust.   Being aware of what your body is doing and saying means have a relaxed, confident and poised demeanor.   Nothing in excess.   If you can, video yourself. The tone, quality and volume of your voice are good Over 80% of the message you are sending comes from your non-verbal communication.   The tone and quality and volume with which you speak is crucial.   Clear and ungarbled.   Not too slow, not too fast.   Vary the intensity. You are expressive (could read as passionate or at a minimum, interested) Smiling while you speak is part of it.   But you also want to show your interest in the story.   Dont hold back!   Dont try and play it cool. These stories will absolutely get used during an interview.   They can also be used many other times and places, networking meetings, for example. Great actors and actresses rehearse their lines.   They use their entire bodies to tell their story. Who is one of the best story tellers you know and why?