Displaying All Posts in the Office Life category

How to Win the Work-Life Balance Battle

No matter the work, the idea is always put your best foot forward and maintain a level of excellence. It is pretty standard knowledge that those who make their way to the top of their profession have made it there for a number of reasons; but tremendous effort is what seems to be the greatest factor. The flipside of this, of course, is that many of those who are at the top of their “office game” are cellar-dwellers when it comes to an even bigger game – their personal lives.

Make no mistake, there are plenty of those out there who spend way too much time with their personal stuff and not enough time on the professional stuff. Those people are content with where they’re at – but also can be in danger of falling from where they’re at into a much less desirable place: the unemployment line. On the plus side, they’ll have no need for balance at all if they hit that mark… Click Here to Read Article …

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5 Tips for the Brand New Employee

Due to these trying economic times, a fact of life is that a lot of people have lost their jobs. Hopefully, the new year will bring new opportunities and job openings for these unfortunate workers. Starting out at a new job is both a difficult and an exciting time for any of us who have been there. But we certainly have to be wary of how we are perceived by our new co-workers. We also have to learn who we can trust and who can help us in our new job. Here are 5 tips that will help you get through this tough transitional time.

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The Postmortem: What It Is, & How to Survive One

Postmortem: noun:

  1. An examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death or the changes produced by disease
  2. Discussion of an event after it has occurred
  3. A blame fest where, if you’re not careful, you get attributed with everything that’s wrong in the world

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How to Avoid Wasting Time in Meetings

There are two types of people in the world: those who organize meetings, and those who hate them. If you’re reading this, it’s very likely that you fall into the latter category. The typical reason for hating meetings is simple: they’re usually a waste of time.

Status updates that could be sent by email, entered into wiki, or added to a group spreadsheet are turned into 30-90 minute rituals that prevent employees from getting actual work done.  There’s nothing worse than sitting idle for 50 minutes to get to 10 minutes’ worth of conversation that concerns you specifically.

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Using Human Resources as Your Resource

There is one department in every company that is there for you, the employee. This department’s mission is to lead the charge when it comes to fostering communication and morale among employees within a company. The department I speak of is Human Resources.

We also know that the Human Resources department typically plays a large role when it comes to hiring new employees and they are also there when employees are dismissed from a company. These days the job of assisting employees who have been laid off by counseling them on Cobra benefits and retraining opportunities may obviously occupy some of their time.

But due to hiring freezes by many companies, including mine, Human Resources personnel may have some more time on their hands to assist existing employees. At this time, it may make sense to take advantage of the opportunity to use this department as a resource.

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A Cube Farm Christmas Party Tale

Come sit by the warmth of the data center, co-workers. I have a Cube Farm Christmas tale to tell. I know those are the new wrinkle-free khakis you’re wearing and that you’ve been taking long lunches at hot yoga, so don’t act like you can’t sit cross-legged around my ergonomically correct chair…

…ahem.

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Holidays: To Go or Not to Go on Vacation?

The holiday season is upon us! Actually, I believe the holiday season officially began around October 1, when the Halloween horror movies started airing continuously and the Christmas commercials were already peppered in among them. But in addition to the compulsory shopping, binge eating, and general stress, there is a silver lining: Vacation time off.

But should you take it? Click Here to Read Article …

Be a Slightly Less Disappointing Secret Santa

Whew. Glad you clicked here before continuing your online shopping at work. Take the forthcoming advice from someone who uses “being green” as an excuse for being too cheap/lazy/both to mail holiday cards this year. It’s been kind of a rough one considering Sarah Palin became an author and I became more cynical and willing to drink rail liquor in any libation with an umbrella.

I digress. We’re nearing the birthday of the Baby Jesus so instead of baking him a cake, you’ve chosen names of co-workers (that haven’t been laid off) to spend your post-tax dollars on. Skip the candles and scented salts for your secret Santa gift this year. You need to find gifts that strike balance.

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