Some good and bad news about your paycheck: pay is beating inflation, but paychecks are smaller than a decade ago
Does logging onto social media sites make you more productive?
The study of 20,000 hourly workers finds “employees who actively used one or two social networking sites on a weekly basis, stay an average of nine days longer than those who don’t use social networks at all,” says Evolv. “Another indicator of attrition is familiarity with other employees at the company. The study shows that employees who know three or more people working at the company are more likely to stay than those who know none.”— Job hoppers make great workers — and other big data revelations
New economic data is raising fresh questions about the wisdom of taking on debt to pay for education.
The amount of student debt has exploded during the last few years. The percentage of 25-year-olds carrying student loans rose from 25 percent in 2003 to 43 percent in 2012, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Of those with debt, the average balance rose from $10,649 to $20,326, a 91 percent jump. Overall, there’s nearly $1 trillion of student loans outstanding, more than any other type of debt except mortgages. High student-debt loads wouldn’t be a problem if grads were getting good jobs and earning decent money. Problem is, they’re not. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute documented many of the trends young workers have been reporting anecdotally for several years. Recent grads face much higher unemployment and underemployment rates than the workforce as a whole. Good jobs, such as those that offer healthcare benefits, are increasingly hard to find. And it’s much worse for young workers who only have a high school education. Getting a slow start on a career can have long-lasting effects.— When College Prevents You From Buying a Home
Does allowing your employees to work whenever they feel like it increase their productivity?
Called ROWE (which stands for Results Only Work Environment) it is an attempt to test the limits of workplace flexibility, and, in the process, redefine them. What’s clear is that the way Americans work is overdue for a change: gone are the days of pink “While You Were Out” slips, nine-to-five schedules, telephones anchored to desks, and secretaries to type letters for bosses who didn’t know their way around a keyboard. Less clear, however, is what we want to change the system to. What is the purpose of an office when so much of modern work can be done from just about anywhere? In a 24/7 economy, how much work is enough work? To whom does your time belong when you are getting a paycheck? How do you manage employees when you can’t actually see them?— Is ROWE The Future Of Work? Or An Unworkable Fantasy?
Are the underachievers the happiest at their jobs?
A new study finds that, in 42% of companies, low performers actually report being more engaged – more motivated and more likely to enjoy working at their organization, for example – than middle and high performers do. The findings suggest many organizations are not holding employees accountable for their work, allowing the worst workers to skate by, says Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, the Atlanta-based consulting firm that conducted the survey. “Low performers often end up with the easiest jobs because managers don’t ask much of them,” he said, so they’re under less stress and they’re more satisfied with their daily work lives.— Bad at Their Jobs, and Loving It
The 10 Worst Things About Job Hunting
6. Employers who insist on knowing your salary history but won’t reveal what the job pays. Employers regularly insist that candidates name their salary history or expectations up front, while simultaneously refusing to divulge the range they plan to pay. There’s no reason for employers not to share that info, other than to make the hire at a lower price. It’s unfair and they usually get away with it, but we’d all be better off if employers simply shared the range they plan to pay and put an end to the drama and coyness.
6 Tricks for Staying Out of the Layoff Firing Zone
2. Learn another job. It’s an unfortunate fact that many corporations in the throes of restructuring won’t think twice about piling additional work on the employees who survive the layoff rounds. So knowing how to fill more than one position in your office can be a surefire way of getting a survivors’ edge.
The Best Jobs of 2012
Each year, U.S. News compiles a list of the Best Careers based on the Labor Department’s employment projections. And this year, we continue to base our picks for the Best Jobs of 2012 on professions that should hire abundantly over the next several years. To better help you make a smart career choice, we’ve also started ranking our selections.
Are Your Gadgets Ruining Your Work Mojo?
Phones and tablets are also showing up in meetings. It’s easy enough to pretend you’re taking notes, but many use the technology to drown out the sound of the meeting coordinator. The meeting time is wasted when workers aren’t paying attention.
And then there’s tech envy. Do your coworkers spend more time envying your technology than getting their work done?
What Every Job-Searching Veteran Needs to Know
Most employers are not familiar with military service, positions, jargon, or acronyms, so it can be even more challenging for veterans to make a strong case. What can job-seeking veterans do to help transition into civilian positions?
How to Recognize Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
“There’s no bright-line test on sexual harassment since the courts—including the U.S. Supreme Court—have made it clear that it will depend on the frequency and severity of the conduct, whether the conduct is physically threatening or humiliating and whether the conduct interferes with the employee’s job performance,” says Paul O. Lopez, director and chair of the litigation department at law firm Tripp Scott.
While More Men Are Finding Work, Women Continue to Lose Jobs
Some economists began to refer to the depths of the recession as a “mancession,” since the bulk of the jobs lost were among men in male-dominated industries such as construction and manufacturing. During the recession (defined as December 2007 to June 2009), the economy shed more than 7 million jobs. Men fared worse in the recession, suffering more than 70 percent of the job losses. But strikingly, in the midst of a slow recovery, women have lost 117,000 jobs while men gained 1,140,000—a staggering difference of about a million jobs.
