Our mission here, as it has been for the past 13 years, is to offer ideas, strategies, trends and opinions geared to making your work life a more rewarding and productive experience. Yet, with busy lives, even the most faithful readers aren’t able to stop by each week.
So, as we begin the final week before the celebration begins in earnest, allow me to offer my holiday gift to you. Here are some of the best of what we presented in 2005:
* Most illuminating statistics: We were treated with healthy doses of both good and not-so-good news regarding the average American worker. While a comforting two-thirds (66 percent) told the Hudson survey of being content with their compensation and benefits, a troubling third (34 percent) said they rarely or never receive a formal review from their employer.
Also comforting was that 82 percent of Americans planned on taking at least some of their average two weeks of vacation; less so was that nearly a quarter (23 percent) said they would frequently call or check into the office electronically, making it not surprising that 34 percent come back to work even more stressed than when they left.
* Best individual insight. Richard Bolles, author of the world-renowned job-finding book “What Color Is Your Parachute?” who said that the Internet’s effectiveness in finding a new job or career is widely misunderstood.
“Independent studies show only 4 percent of all successful job seekers actually get their job directly through an Internet contact, and only 8 percent of new workers were found on the Internet,” he said.
Personal networking and contacts remain the single most useful way to change jobs.
* The best practices of the Best Places to Work companies in America. Genencor International, a biotech research firm in Palo Alto, Calif., encourages employees to take mass transit to work, and maintains a fleet of cars and bicycles they can use to complete an important errand or keep a dental appointment during the day.
Navigator Systems, a professional services agency in Addison Texas, has no limits on vacation time with a “take time off as you need it” policy – and no employee abuses the perk. The firm pays above-average wages and 100 percent of health care premiums.
Analytical Graphics, a small business “best places” winner, places heavy emphasis on employee and managerial training – over 40 hours a year at a cost of nearly $300,000.
It also spends about $2,500 annually per employee for breakfasts, lunches and dinner, and as well as on-site laundry rooms and workout facilities for its 236 aerospace, electrical and software engineers.
* Best workplace observation. Laura Stack of Denver, an organizational operations consultant, said once a company’s average employee workweek climbs above 60 hours, turnover becomes rampant.
Too many employers and managers still cling to such productivity-robbing norms of “butts in the seats,” face time and insisting on working late to prove dedication. Alarmed at a drop in productivity, a telecommunications company with a typical 12-hour workday invited Stack to observe
“I got there at 7, and you know what I saw? People would come in, wave at the boss to say, ‘Hey, I’m here,’ then go about putting on their makeup, reading the paper and not really begin working until about 8.”
* The best “Why didn’t we think of this before?” idea. Malcolm Gladwell of the New Yorker tells the compelling story of Abbie Conent, one of first women chosen as a section leader of a major symphony orchestra.
Conent’s quirky selection as lead trombonist of the Munich Philharmonic in 1980 resulted from an equally quirky decision to place 32 audition candidates, all believed by orchestra leaders to be male, behind a curtain because one was related to an orchestra member.
Prior to Conant’s hands-down audition victory, only 5 percent of major orchestras worldwide had female members, nearly all of them string players. During the next 10 years, as Conant fought off repeated attempts to demote or remove her, orchestras increasingly adopted curtained auditions. Now, female membership in major orchestras totals more than 50 percent.
* Best quote (that, incidentally, didn’t make the column): “You have to have an attitude that, ‘It’s only a game.’ You take a shot and you either make it or miss it. It doesn’t mean my kids won’t love me when I get home if I don’t make it.”
– Robert Horry on risk-taking, after his game-winning basket gave San Antonio a 96-95 victory on June 19 in the NBA playoffs.
Eric Zoeckler will be off next week. His column resumes Jan. 2, 2006. Write Eric c/o The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, or e-mail mrscribe@aol.com.
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