Author Archives: Dorothy Dalton

Overwhelmed by a culture of overwork

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Culture of overwork

The advancement of employment conditions was very much a characteristic of the 19th and 20th centuries to improve the lot of the working person. In 1926 the Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories.

The 40 hour week became over time, a workplace norm in most developed countries over the course of the century, as a benchmark for employment organisation, with still further reductions in maximum working hours in some geographies. Education was seen as a way out of this type of treadmill. The more successful worked fewer hours than the average working person.

Twofold regression

Yet in the last decades, we have seen a regression, with some sectors gaining notoriety for boiler room pressure and cultures of overwork. In October 2014 Goldman Sachs introduced the concept of “Protect Saturday” insisting that junior analysts take Saturdays off (except when they were working on live deals.)  This was considered on Wall Street as almost revolutionary, but seems Dickensian in its thinking.

Further shifts

The arrival of technology, particularly the  smart phone, has produced what Josh Bersin of Deloitte calls the “overwhelmed employee.” Now we have an expectation of 24/7 connectivity, instant gratification and responsiveness as well as availability. We are seeing a blurring between personal and professional, and in work and out of it.

Ironically there has been another shift. 3 decades ago more highly qualified employees were less likely to work longer hours compared to lower paid and less qualified. A 2008 Harvard Business School survey of a thousand professionals found that 94% per cent worked 50 hours or more a week, and almost half worked in excess of 65 hours a week. Attributed to the Boomer work ethics  characterizing workplace culture, with their work centric focus on hierarchy, power and prestige, successful people now work longer hours than ever. But this doesn’t explain similar overwork cultures found in Silicon Valley.

The notion of the idle rich seems to have gone out of the window.

Education and upward mobility

Education has always been seen as the path to upward mobility. This is no longer always the case.  The flood of graduates onto the market has created a glut, which is not being matched by career opportunities. The arrival of zero hour contracts and the gig economy, is leaving many people  running a number of jobs simply to pay the bills. Marianne, a recent English graduate who is still looking for a job post graduation, works in a bar, a shop and a theatre, all on either a short- term, part-time or zero hours contracts. “It’s exhausting, I never know if my hours are going to be cut, so I take all the work I can get to make sure I don’t have to move back to live with my parents. I’m not committed to overwork – I have to do it”  

New status symbol

Overwork has also become the new status symbol

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. Time scarcity seems to have become a  corporate and cultural badge of success and an indicator of professional status. It is very much gender driven with overwork being intrinsic to male dominated corporate cultures.  Yet this is set against a backdrop of a chronic fall in employee engagement. Reports of a reduction in productivity, decreases in creativity and corresponding increases in days lost because of health issues are commonplace.

In some sectors where services offered are based on billable hours, such as consulting or law, there are few incentives to make people more effective and to work shorter hours. The productivity of knowledge workers is also much harder to evaluate. Martin an ex-corporate lawyer in a Magic Circle firm in London says “the culture of overwork is institutionalized and the only way to find any balance is to leave. The first document I had to sign when I started, was a waiver of the European Time Directive regulating upper hours working limits (48)”

He left aged 32, at a time when 80 hour weeks and working 48 hours without a break were his norm. He took a 30% drop in salary knowing that there would be a line of others queuing for his job, with the lure of partnership as the carrot. “Many are prepared to put in long hours just to stand a chance of making Partner and a 7 figure salary. This impacts family life and relationships because you have to do this from usually 28-40 which is a critical time in your life. For me the sacrifice wasn’t worth it”

Cultural change

What has to change is the cultural commitment to overwork which indeed penalizes anyone who wants to have some sort of family life. It particularly impacts women who leave organizations such as these, in their droves, or opt to stay in lower level jobs.  Some businesses compensate by providing corporate mindfulness training and concierge services and even sleeping pods.

But the question is, are they band aids which treat only the symptoms, rather than addressing the core cultural malaise? There is a reason the company does your laundry.

Initiatives to chip away at this regressive mind-set seem to be working. Employee engagement is a hot topic. Sweden is introducing 6 hour days to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. Goldman Sachs has even reported promoting a record number of women to Managing Director status, which might reflect a further sea change in thinking, as their senior echelons achieve greater gender balance.

What is needed is a corporate culture where people can thrive, both in the workplace and outside it. This is one area where gender balanced leadership teams would surely have an impact.

Are you caught up in the culture of overwork?

 

 

Future of Work: New processes, traditional values

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HRTech World in Paris was overwhelming. The sheer scale and energy of the event, with more than 3500 delegates, hundreds of sponsors and 200,000m² of exhibition space, meant some strategic cherry picking was needed.

Although I became something of a Josh Bersin stalker, I spent a lot of time in the DisruptHR area, listening to pitches and talking to some of the new entrepreneurs. The whole spectrum of new HR processes will be covered by what Mr. Bersin has identified as his number one trend “the appification of everything.”  Whether employee engagement, onboarding and offboarding, payroll, social recruitment, learning and development, we are going to see new dashboards, apps and analytics for every element of the  function.

What must have been music to the ears of hopeful start-up entrepreneurs was Trend #2. He believes one sole big ERP vendor is unlikely to cover all elements. There’s your crack in the market!

The appification of everything Trendn#1

             The appification of everything Trend #1

But one other message came over loud and clear. This was apparent particularly in the keynote panel discussions, but also in side sessions, as well as individual conversations with delegates. Putting the humanity back into Human Resources, which should perhaps more appropriately be called Human Relations, or Human Relationships.

The declining level of employee engagement and productivity was the conference buzz catch phrase. Some estimated this disengagement to be as high as 90%, with Prezi CEO, Peter Arvei  calling it an epidemic

Technology is part of the solution, but also part of the problem.

The ultimate irony is that Mr. Bersin maintains that this decline in productivity has been marked since the introduction of the iPhone. So technology is part of the problem. Unless organisations have cultures which are highly compliant, employers can’t make employees become engaged he emphasized. Nearly every company sees increasing individual productivity and overall performance as a challenge, but most struggle to handle it.

An investment in a happiness app on its own isn’t going to do it.

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We are seeing the emergence of what his company has called the “overwhelmed employee.”  So although the processes adopted by HR are changing faster than we could ever imagine, many were suggesting that the future of work and the success of HR and businesses, will be a reconnection with basic old-school traditional values. What we need is to be able to manage the frenetic communications practices that overwhelm all of us, simplify the work environment, create more flexible work standards that allow employees to prioritise.

New processes. Traditional values

Euan Semple told us if we wanted higher engagement we needed to do something different:

Sir Richard Branson said leaders need to become good listeners and proposed writing any feedback down. Businesses thrive and survive because of their people, he maintained, and it’s necessary to treat them as adults and not micro-manage.

Not forgetting the famous Virgin parties. It’s necessary to recognise and celebrate individual contributions. 

Legacies

When asked about his legacy, Sir Richard added: 

This was endorsed by Ambrosia Vertesi VP of Talent for Hootsuite.  To paraphrase she told us that employers need to do what is necessary to allow people to be fulfilled and healthy human beings, whether as employees, parents, partners or carers, an atypical corporate business model that Virgin have followed for years. Virgin has thrived when its competitors went to the wall because of a strong “people” culture.

And all succinctly summed up by award winning sector veteran Naomi Bloom, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing:

Quoi de neuf?

Funny. But not really funny. @Manwhohasitall

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Billed as a Twitter parody on the ridiculous advice given to women, when I first saw the tweets I laughed. Really laughed. These gender reverse tips are super funny. Along with several tens of thousands, I shared them on Twitter and Facebook. The tweet about the scented candle really resonated. As did the one on guilt. There was also something Pythonesque about the @manwhohasitall peach hunt concept.

We know

Many women would say they have leaned in so hard that they have fallen over.

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They are in advice overload and some of it, we all agree, is totally banal and ridiculous. We have power dressed, we have conquered nerves, our presentations are flawless, our strategic analysis ditto. We pay it forward, mentor and sponsor within an inch of our lives and our mousse au chocolat is to die for. We look good in killer heels.  We have obliterated the word “just” and “only” from our vocabulary and we now only apologise when we have caused accidental bodily harm to a handicapped senior, or small child. We do allow ourselves some flexibility. After all isn’t empathy our defining characteristic?

So why is no one taking us seriously?

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But 24 hours later, with the tweets really on a roll, churning out by the hour, I had second thoughts. Funny. But not really funny. This tongue in cheek humour is but another form of patronising indulgence. A distraction from the real issues. Some might even dare to call it benevolent sexism.

Let’s talk about the men who have it all!

  • They occupy more than 80% of board level positions
  • They own a big chunk of 99% of the world’s wealth
  • They earn about 20% more than their female counter parts – and even more if that counterpart is a woman of colour.
  • They carry out approximately 20% of unpaid work compared to 80% carried out by women
  • If they don’t wear make-up people won’t think they are less trustworthy or competent.
  • A high BMI will not be held against them as it would for a woman.
  • If they look after their kids, women think it’s cute
  • If they are married with kids, corporates think they are solid family people not hiring risks
  • When they apply for a job their qualifications and experience are top considerations.  Really? How weird is that?

So as I see the stream spew out fatuously funny tips for men I can’t help but wonder – what is the point?  There are far more important issues the #menwhohaveitall can address.

Like supporting the men who don’t have it all. And they are legion.

Or educating their teams to manage their unconscious biases to drive gender balance to create environments where both men and women can succeed.

And one of the reasons women like scented candles in the bathroom is:

Ikea candle = €0.95 (currently on special offer)

Golf club fees =  ??

 What did you think? Funny? Not really funny?

How to nail an international assignment

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At about this time of the year companies start measuring employees against their KPIs and everyone is busy preparing next year’s plan. Set against the back drop of maybe a recent vacation and the onset of winter, life and work in another country becomes appealing.  People start considering an international assignment.

I have moved internationally myself, so have first hand experience of the challenges involved. Without company sponsorship it can be difficult.

So how do you go about it? Definitely not the way I did! This may surprise you, but I threw caution to the wind and just moved. It worked (in the end) but it was not without its downsides. So when my daughter was inclined to do the same, I strongly advised her to be more strategic. For once, somewhat surprisingly, she listened to me.

Want advice about planning an international assignment – contact me!

She and her now husband, decided that they wanted a lifestyle change from their life in London. They carefully researched target destinations to produce a strong favourite location. They took a week’s vacation and set up meetings at their own expense, with potential employers in the destination of choice, Dubai. Within days they had offers from their preferred firms. They are still there with blossoming careers.

An international assignment can be enormously fulfilling. For me it has been. But for some it can be the source of abject misery.

Goals 

Understand well why you want to move internationally and how this fits into your long term career goals. There are many permutations on an international assignment  –  as a singleton, with a partner and with and without kids. Factor in what this means for your partner and his/her career and your family if you have one. Jack Welch said that tomorrow’s leaders will have international backgrounds, but relocation experts say the international transfer of an executive can centre on how the family settles into the new home and schools, rather than the executive into a new job.

Research

Make a short list of the locations that are in line with your goals. Look into the employment laws of the targeted country with regard to non-national employees. It is getting increasingly difficult to just up sticks and pitch up somewhere new. Some geographies are notoriously difficult to enter, with rigorous immigration restrictions for all but specific key skill sets. Check out the professional restrictions. What sort of visa would you need? Investigate companies and any sector trends or insights to establish which areas might be open to international candidates. Language capabilities will be critical here. Many would-be movers simply give up their lives and relocate without knowing a word of the language of the country they are moving to.

Finances

Make sure you understand thoroughly your personal finances and how these translate into another country. It is common to inadequately cost the expenses involved in relocation, to maintain your desired standard of living.  Understanding the general cost of living, housing and education in your dream location is critical. Tax regimes and exchange rates also have to be factored in. I know Americans in Europe currently, who are really struggling as the Euro falls against the dollar, when they have to transfer money back to their home country and are paid in the local currency. Expatistan and Numbeo are good living cost comparison sites

Position

Re-construct your LinkedIn profile to include keywords related to your target destination. LinkedIn is heavily driven by the location field and many companies don’t want to pay relocation expenses. Check out the job boards and sign up for alerts. Some international assignment seekers relocate ahead of finding a job. At lower levels this can work, as sometimes being on the spot and having a local telephone number and address can help. But you do need deep pockets and savings to be able to stick it out. It can take 6-9 months to get a job. I have not seen this method succeed at a senior level.

In today’s regulated economies and employment markets, finding an international assignment can be harder than it appears, but rewarding and a great life and career experience.

So good luck – what is your story of an international assignment?

 

 

White noise nonsense on job search and recruitment

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Do you have nonsense fatigue?

I’m starting to see some backlash on the volume of white noise on LinkedIn and other platforms. One writer Cory Galbraith sent out a post which resonated. He has even taken a break from his own writing.

He suggests that people write for a number of reasons – to sell a product, enhance a reputation or ego, and some even to be genuinely helpful. What bothers me, is the level of information which is either inaccurate, wrong or an opinion shared as a truth.

I’m sure it is the same for all sectors, but nowhere is it as prevalent as job search and recruitment. The search term “How to create a successful resume” produces 72.2 million resources in 0.61 of a Google second. 

Careers and job seeking are a bit like having a life.

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We all have opinions on the way people do these things and many are more than willing to share them, regardless of their knowledge level or qualifications. Even if they haven’t applied for a job in 20 years or worked in recruitment, sometimes ever!

Myth Creation

The advent of social media has created a whole new culture of people who can send out what are essentially opinions, rather than fact, to large audiences interested in job search and recruitment. Very often this commentary is couched in click bait headlines which confuse the life out of readers. Coming from so-called “influencers” these nuggets carry additional weight for a very susceptible audience.

I published a post on LinkedIn Pulse  on this topic 4 mystifying professional profile myths on this topic. Jesse Lyn Stoner of the Seapoint Center, suggested that one way to deal with trying to make people accountable was to write a post about it! So here it is!

Factually incorrect 

A post from a really sweet contact, who is not in the career coaching or recruitment business, gave  “top” tips for creating an effective CV. 4 of them were probably completely wrong and others were pretty dubious. I have seen posts suggesting cutting certain words out of resumés. In the real world seeing the word “etc.” really makes no difference at all.  There are times when etc. will be appropriate and others where perhaps fuller detail will be required. It will certainly not impact the recruitment process.

I saw another post suggesting that the word “actually” be scrubbed from our professional vocabularies in emails, as it is rude and implies a correction. Here is a definition of actually:

actually ˈaktjʊəli,-tʃʊ-/ adverb adverb: actually
1.
as the truth or facts of a situation.
“we must pay attention to what young people are actually doing”
2.
used to emphasize that something someone has said or done is surprising.
“he actually expected me to be pleased about it!”
synonyms: literally, to all intents and purposes, in effect

I’m not sure when “actually” morphed into something impolite, but there is  now a whole slew of readers who think it’s not a good word to use in a professional context.

Calling it out

Is it worth calling it all out?  I have nonsense fatigue and can no longer be bothered.  Others are more vigilant in making others accountable. A tweet came through my stream recently from @NeilMorrison  suggesting to a well-known influencer that some copy was potentially misleading about the hiring process, possibly to meet a deadline. I actually had the same thoughts when I had read the post earlier.  His words were  “what a load of rubbish on the hiring process”

Perspective not truth

This quote from Marcus Aurelius sent out  from @Avid Careerist, Donna Svei, confirmed my ideas. She was focusing on conflict, but I think it applies to many situations.

marcus aurelius

How to convey that anything we write is an opinion and a perspective, not a fact, is not difficult  in itself, although writers are always exhorted to write with conviction and audience attracting headlines. With the growing volume of columnists and pundits churning out content, as well as people who know nothing about the sector adding their two cents worth, the volume of white noise is now mind-blowingly confusing.  

My opinion is that separating this white noise of nonsense on job search and recruitment, from valid and helpful commentary is getting increasingly difficult for the average reader.

How do you think we should deal with it? Do you have nonsense fatigue?

The rise of the Eat, Pray, Love-r

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An increasing number of women are going on journeys of self-discovery 

Years ago, if a woman had a difficult time, she might call some friends and open a bottle of wine, cry over a chick flick (a marathon Colin Firth, Pride and Prejudice session is my mooch movie of choice) or eat her favourite comfort food.

Today, she doesn’t get mad. She doesn’t get even. She gets on a plane.

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Eat, Pray, Love

Inspired by the book and then the movie Eat, Pray, Love, an increasing number of women are now blazing a trail set by Elizabeth Gilbert. Her compelling tale of recovery from a painful divorce, recounts how she nurtures her body through food and cooking in Italy, mysticism in India and a new love and spirituality in Bali. Many places mentioned in the book reported an upturn in tourism as a result of her adventures.  

Today, it’s not necessarily the actual steps Elizabeth Gilbert took, but the wider message. We are seeing a whole new breed of women who are more financially secure and less risk averse who are willing to move out of their comfort zones to learn new things about themselves as part of a life and career transition.

I met Marianne in a tapas bar in Seville this summer. A financial advisor from New York, she and her long time boyfriend parted ways in January 2014. “It was nothing dramatic at the time. We were just stuck and not going anywhere.  I wanted children  – he didn’t know. Six months later, he married a mutual friend and she is now expecting their first child. That really hurt. We have the same friendship group and our professional lives overlap. I didn’t want to deal with it all  – the sympathy and understanding more than anything.  So I quit my job and am doing a tri-continent tour.”

Me: Was Elizabeth Gilbert’s experience an influence?

Yes!  I’m an Eat, Pray, Love-r!  Elizabeth Gilbert proved it can be done. She paved the way for lots of 30 something women who want to get away, but to make it a positive experience and moving forward. I have savings, so I’m learning Spanish in Spain, going to India to study Ayurvedic massage in Kerala. I’m actually passing on Bali, but spending time in New Zealand. Then I’ll go back to the U.S and maybe relocate to another city. This whole experience has made me feel really free and just opened up my eyes to limitless possibilities. If I could find my Javier Bardem  that would be the icing on the cake!” 

I ran into Millie in Zagreb airport today!  At 32, she was passed over for a promotion in London earlier this summer and the job given to one of her reports. “I felt humiliated. There was no way I could report to someone who had worked for me. I think my bosses wanted me to leave anyway.  

I negotiated a decent package, which involves 6 months gardening leave, so I hit booking.com and Expedia. I love diving, so I have just finished my Master Diver certificate. I sub-let my flat, and have spent a month in Croatia and now I’m headed for Dubai and after that the Maldives or any of the Pacific Islands or even Mexico. I feel re-energised and satisfied, healthy, emotionally and physically. I’ll probably have to go back when the money runs out – but until then I’m going to take each week as it comes.”  

Me: What were they key influences on you? 

“Elizabeth Gilbert and Eat, Pray, Love, for sure. She made it OK for women who had a set back, to take time out to explore other options. It was no longer labelled running away and cowardice, but about self-discovery.”

So for those women who take a knock and have money in the bank, facing the music and wagging tongues isn’t the only option to figure out a life and career transition.

Now, women reach for the boarding pass, not the Hagen Daaz

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How to show poise under pressure

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Tessie

Tessie is a 35-year-old Project Manager in a small Design Agency. Resources are tight and deadlines even tighter. At times, especially on a Friday, as everyone rushes to meet client demands and set targets for the following week, there is a pressure cooker atmosphere. It’s part of the creative buzz, but the downside is tempers become frayed.

Tessie believed she was being mobbed. This is serious accusation and not to be taken lightly. But in every situation I always check the exact circumstances. As I listened, it was clear that two of the issues were just standard vying for limited resources, with at worst an impolite exchange. The third case was where a man made a sexist comment about her bum, in a language he didn’t think she understood. This was clearly sexist and out-of-order, but does not constitute mobbing.

As she recounted the situation which led to her taking a sick day and leaving the office early, I had to ask her what if anything had she said or done at the time to make it obvious that the behaviour was unacceptable to her? How had she made her boundaries clear? The answer was she had done nothing.  A quick retort in that language, probably would have been enough – or even a translation in English would have embarrassed the guy out of making any further comments about her derrière in front of her colleagues.

She was not able to show poise under pressure and didn’t think on her feet.

Tessie reported that after our discussion, a short, direct and constructive communication type conversation with the culprit, was sufficient to do the trick. If it had continued and become a pattern of behaviour from a group of people, that would have been mobbing. In that case she would have reported that to her boss.

Véronique

Véronique, a marketing manager was taken to task by a new Director for the way she had handled a certain issue. When addressed, she was so affronted and upset, she was unable to speak and ran out of the room and cried in the bathroom. She did nothing at the time.  She apologised afterwards and although she thought she had resolved the situation, some weeks later her fixed term contract was not renewed.

She was not able to show poise under pressure and didn’t think on her feet.

Leadership skills

Having poise under pressure is a vital leadership skill and a key part to creating what is known as executive presence. This is a combination of behaviours and characteristics which convey confidence.

Taking sick days and crying in the bathroom tend not to do that.

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When there is danger, or we are facing  challenging situations, our minds and bodies go into the ‘fight, freeze or flight’ mode.

But despite what you think, being able to think on your feet and showing poise under pressure are learned skills and can be dealt with by the right kind of preparation. People don’t want to work with colleagues and especially bosses who can’t cope with difficult situations. It makes you seem unreliable and inconsistent.

Those two incidents were stress situations to the people involved.

6 tips to show poise under pressure

  1. Know yourself and what you know. Self-belief, knowing you have the skills to deal with any situation inspires confidence. If your values are clear, people may not always respect them, but it is easier for you to create boundaries. It also helps to de-personalize a situation to move into business neutral (see below).
  2. Share your message: when your message is strong and is shared in an assertive way, your limits are clear.
  3. Have authoritative body language: standing tall, with good eye contact sends another strong message. Breathe deeply to calm any nerves and to deal with the panic signals that let your body know you feel under threat. This will help with the onset of any tears.  Concave body language puts you psychologically in a weaker position.
  4. Deal with the challenge: go directly into business neutral and don’t personalise it (even if it is your bum). More breathing if necessary
  5. Close graciously: to ensure good working relations, to pave the way for the future.
  6. Communicate constructively: it may not be appropriate to deal with a situation immediately, but at a suitable time after, make an appointment for a meeting and raise the issue using blame free language. “When x happened, I experienced this as ..”

How do you show poise under pressure and weather the storms?

Need help with your executive presence – check out my programme and contact me

HR Carnival – HR and cultural change

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HR Carnival – what cultural changes end up as workplace challenges?

Organisations are always impacted by changes outside the workplace and HR can often be slow to react. In this week’s HR Carnival, we’re going to hear from some international HR commentators about the impact of some those cultural changes on HR professionals.

Some changes are barely perceptible, but build up over time. Others are dramatic and can’t be ignored. These might be slow burning cultural shifts: the increase in divorce and single parent families impacting recruitment and internal promotions, dads wanting to take paternity leave, the growth of technology and social media, the rise of the collaborative economy and freelance contractors, communication trends, 5 generation workforces and the delayed retirement of Boomers, to name but a few.

Today’s refugee crisis will eventually become an HR challenge

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All of these changes impact workplace practises and people, in ways that we hadn’t anticipated,  providing fresh challenges for HR professionals.

Here are just a few insights from this week’s HR Carnival.

The freelance economy is on the rise

Annabel Kaye, CEO of Irenicon and U.K. based employment law specialist, has written extensively about the growth of the freelance economy. Today, many simply fail to find full-time, permanent contracts,  others want to have access to flexible working conditions for any number of reasons.  Words such as lean and agile have crept into our corporate lexicon as organisations seek employees who are willing to be flexible.

But what are the downsides of this Uber style business model? Read Uber all under the law

Skill set deficits

This is an older post from HR commentator Mervyn Dinnen which was re-issued in August 2015 as organisations struggle to fill their talent pipelines with the right type of skills from young people. Mervyn’s commentary is U.K. related,  but his overall thesis is global. He suggests for companies to have access to the right skills in this age group “We need to focus more on teaching the skill and will to learn and to make a difference and bring the three most powerful ingredients of intrinsic motivation into the classroom: play, passion and purpose”

I couldn’t agree more.

Read:  A child who has ambition

Growth of technology

All forms of communication have become digitalized, whether email, text or other online tools, to the point where old school unscheduled voice calls are considered intrusive. Online training is  also becoming the norm as companies try to tap into technology to save costs and time. But Nicole La Maire, of New To HR urges us not to forget the human touch and why direct human interaction is best.

Read: Why the human touch still matters  

Recruitment

Katrina Collier, Social Media Recruiting Specialist, rails against the resistance to changes in technology in recruitment departments by the “Jobsworth mentality.”   Taken from the phrase “It’s more than my job’s worth” it describes a person who plods on in the same old way, regardless of the march of time in the outside world.

Read: The curse of the “Jobsworth” in hiring and recruitment  

 Parenting is an HR issue

With Gen Y set to dominate the workplace in the next years, organisations are going to need to adapt. The traditional family unit of a child carer (usually female) and revenue generator (usually male) is becoming obsolete, as women want to pursue careers and men want greater involvement in childcare. With greater number of single parent families, and men and women coping with joint custody arrangements, HR is feeling the impact in a number of areas especially recruitment and the willingness to travel and relocate,

Read my take on: Parenting is an HR Issue 

Silent epidemic

One research project after another talks about the rise of bullying in the workplace. It is no longer about physical abuse, but more covert activity. A person who is bullied in school is more likely to be bullied at work. This has become a form of silent bullying with HR under increasing pressure to deal with something that is difficult to prove.  Lisa Gates, Co-Founder of She Negotiates looks at implicit or unconscious bias and how micro-inequalities impact those outside a dominant group based on ill-considered stereotyping.

Read: Is Implicit bias bullying you silent?

Redefining retirement age

As seniors become healthier and their longevity increased, 60 has become the new 40.  Steven Toft , alias trend commentator FlipChartRick, in his blog Flip Chart Fairy Tails (Business Bullshit, Corporate Crap and other stuff from the World of Work) examines the impact this development has on the work force as well as government policy.

65 is no longer old.

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How are HR policies going to cope with a demographic that either doesn’t want to retire, or can’t retire for financial reasons?

Read: The Healthy Aging Challenge 

So what other cultural changes are worthy of inclusion?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why understanding our values is important

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What are values?

Values represent what matters and what is important to us. They are the underlying principles, motivations and attitudes that are personally significant.  They guide our behaviour, both in and outside work. How contented and motivated we feel,  is underpinned by they way in which what we do, complements or coincides with our values.

They are the reason we get up in the morning, they motivate our choices and impact our behaviour.

When our choices are in sync with our values, the more likely we are to feel satisfied, motivated and engaged. If there is a gap between our values and our actions, the likelihood of feelings of frustration and demotivation increases.

This can impact upon our behaviour, results and effectiveness.

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It is therefore really important to spend some time reflecting on our key core values and checking that our goals and actions are in line with them, especially when making career decisions.

You would be surprised how many fail to do this.

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Examples of core values might be health, integrity, intellectual stimulation, community, diversity or being a good parent.  Understanding the reasons we select certain values leads to greater understanding of our motivators.

Benefits

To gain any clarity around what is important to us so that we can lead a life that is satisfying and successful (according to our individual definitions of both of those words, of course) understanding our values is vital.  This allows us to prioritise and make consistent decisions. They also provide a benchmark that acts as our compass, to let us know when we are off centre.

Respectful behaviour is very important to Simon. He joined a new, cutting edge brand management team, where verbal teasing banter and “blue” jokes were the norm for the group, and he often felt excluded and uncomfortable. He realised afterwards, that in the interview process there had been a number of tells, but he had quashed his doubts because the job content was so attractive and he badly wanted the brand name on his CV. He waited an appropriate amount of time and applied for a transfer.

Why?

Time is a finite resource. One of the things we all struggle with is the amount of time we have available to us.  Understanding our values allows us to:

  • Prioritise: Understanding our values allows us to put the important things first. This helps us achieve better time management, because we don’t waste time on activities we know have less meaning to us. This leads to conscious priority setting.
  • Be consistent: Our decisions also become more consistent, which leads to faster and more effective progress. We are no longer filled with doubts, because we know well what counts and where  our priorities lie.
  • Benchmark:  It also helps us avoid taking decisions which are not in line with our longer term goals. The greater the clarity around our values, the easier it is to identify the reason for any non – alignment.

The root of any career problem can often be tracked to professional and personal goals being out of alignment, not just with each other, but our core values as well. Issues with career choices very often spill into our personal lives and sadly can cause damage there too, impacting our closest relationships.

There is no substitute for reflecting on what matters most to you. Many people don’t make the time, or don’t know how to, carry out this most basic exercise.

Do you understand your core values?

 

 

Elder care – an HR crisis in the wings

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With aging populations in many developed economies, elder care looms on the horizon for a high number, making it an HR crisis waiting in the wings. An increasing number of employees will have to balance caring responsibilities with paid work in the not to distant future. Many are already experiencing the challenge.

I recently had an elder care crisis myself. My active and independent, 90 year old mum had a very negative experience, to what should have been a routine surgery. I am self employed so could eventually re-work my schedule, but I live in another country. It was my sister who shouldered the brunt of the immediate responsibility, reliant on the goodwill of her line manager.

While most  organisations now offer support for working parents and new mothers, carers frequently get overlooked.

Sandwich generation

In some cases many individuals, known as the “Sandwich Generation” fulfil both roles.  These people balance their own lives and work, parent their own children and reverse parent at the same time. That is, they parent their own parents. We are already seeing inadequate retirement provision made by many Boomers, and pension poverty forecast for many women, who live longer. This is set against a reduction in state funded care services in some geographies, or none at all in others, so the full extent of the problem can only be estimated.

But there is no doubt it is significant.

Unofficial support

The question is does the workplace need to play a stronger role in building carer-friendly communities?  The answer is yes, or face skill set shortages. UK businesses are already suggesting that the risk of losing key talent from the workplace is increasing, because of a lack of support for those employees with caring responsibilities. In joint research from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei) and My Family Care it was revealed that only 38% of employers monitor the caring responsibilities of their workforce, despite the fact that 10% of UK workers now combine paid work with caring for family members.

In a survey of 1,000 consumers and 100 employers, although 33% of HR managers said they had introduced specific policies or communications for carers at work 35% of the respondents surveyed indicated  that they have minimal support  available to them. This is in contrast to new parents who have direct support and tend to build a network of people experiencing the same life and professional challenges. Although there is now a growing plethora of commercial organisations filling the service gap,  in what is going to be a big growth business in the future.

In a separate survey of more than 4,500 carers by Carers UK, more than 50% of those surveyed said workplace issues made looking after the person they cared for more difficult, with 75% reporting a negative impact on their productivity, physical or mental health.

Line Managers

Employees said their line managers were key to helping them balance work and family, and many called for greater flexibility at work although concerns were expressed about the impact this would have on career progression. 75% of employees said a lack of support from their employer made it more difficult to work full time and fulfil their caring responsibilities, with many not even informing their employers of their private obligations.  Further studies have shown that this is more likely to be an issue in a larger organisation where lost  time and interruptions are more frequently recorded than in an SME.

The biggest challenge, however, is cost. Elder care benefits are claimed to be too expensive for many organisations.

Employee benefit

Introducing elder care as an employee benefit need not necessarily be costly.  Even the provision of access to helplines and specialists who can advise on and manage needs generated by caring for elderly relatives. The time spent liaising with different bodies involved in any care process is high, as I found out personally. This can include: hospitals, dieticians, physiotherapists, pharmacists, doctors  and other stakeholders that are needed before residential elder care is considered. These schemes are comprehensive and look after major issues from support in the home, to advice on residential care.

Elder care services can also provide access to qualified financial and legal advisors, specialising in care fees planning and the financial affairs of older people, as well as hands-on support when dealing with property and personal possessions. Having these resources available will minimise the time needed to independently seek professional advice from very often unreliable sources.

With a record number of people in the 60+ demographic (this is why they are called Boomers, because there was a baby boom) as with any other wider cultural change, the work place will be impacted. It will then become an HR issue.

What is your experience of elder care?