Not kidding. Salary.com has a listing of time wasted at work broken out by all 50 states. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I did find this fact interesting:

4. Wisconsin 2.8 hrs avg wasted salary wasted: $23.8 billion

33. Minnesota 1.9 hrs avg wasted salary wasted: $11.8 billion

I will reserve comment since we have customers in Wisconsin.

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From a recent SHRM survey and article titled “Businesses slow to help employees at the gas pump” (membership required): of 380 companies surveyed from April 25th to May 1st of this year, few companies are actively moving to assist their employees with rising gas prices. In fact, 86% indicated that they were doing nothing. Here is a break down of the top initiatives for those companies reaching out:

• 20% are increasing the mileage limit
• 8% are offering public transportation discounts, up from 7% in 2005
• 8.4% organize carpools, up from 5.3% in 2005
• 7.1% offer telecommuting, up from 4.4% in 2005

As you can see, only a small percentage of companies today are actually taking advantage of the technology available to offer telecommuting to their employees. However, the trend is clearly increasing and I expect will accelerate even more this year. More and more candidates are inquirying about positions they are applying for and if telecommuting is an option – even on a part-time basis. Is your company offering a telecommuting option and, if so, are you promoting that option in your hiring activities?

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What If Employers Want You to Take a Personality Test? is a stretch of an article from monster.com. Surely it is written to generations X and Y and falls under the category “Work/Life Balance.” (see our new article released this week regarding this topic). The author advocates a position of questioning the assessment process to the point of respectfully declining to take the test.

In all fairness to the author, he does state that theoretically a candidate could decline but that approach is not realistically a strong position for getting the job. First off, “personality test” is a fat phrase – it can encompass a broad array of assessments. This could mean as simplistic as a Myers-Briggs test all the way up to a full interview with an industrial psychologist. Nonetheless, personality tests are only part of a succssful assessment package.

One topic the author does not address is the hiring process. The EEOC recommends assessments in large part because they are objective – especially in comparison to the one-on-one, in-person interview. Also, companies must maintain a consistent hiring process for all candidates. Any company that runs a process cannot have some candidates completing the assessments and others not taking them. If the assessment is part of the process and a candidate refuses to complete them, technically they have withdrawn themselves from consideration voluntarily.

One last point that is well stated by the author – observing how the company reacts to the candidate’s questioning of the assessments is insightful. One would expect the company to be professional, firm and forthright in their explanation. The author is writing to a candidate audience, but he does not touch on the employer side of this equation. The first question in an employer’s mind will be, “What does this candidate have to hide?”

The hiring process is the stage at which a future employee (candidate) will be most compliant. If they are questioning the process at this phase, what will they be like once they have been an employee for 6 months? Few companies are looking for robotic employees, but noncompliance to established systems must be handled tactfully by a candidate at all times. Companies that use assessments are attempting to find the right fit for the position which not only benefits the company, it benefits the candidate also. I can’t imagine any reasonable candidate would want to accept a position for which their skills, motivations and style are a complete mismatch.

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The online training continues with the CareerJournal.com article Don’t Let Tough Questions Sabotage Your Interview. The author refers to these questions as “stress questions” which is a fair description. The article is a long read so I have compiled the 10 example questions they use:

1. Could you tell me a little about yourself?
2. Why did you leave your previous employer, or why are you leaving your present job?
3. What are your greatest strengths?
4. What are your weaknesses?
5. What type of salary do you have in mind?
6. What do you like most and least about your present job?
7. Are you applying for any other jobs?
8. Why should we hire you?
9. Where do you hope to be in five years?
10. Do you have any questions? Can you think of anything else you’d like to add?

A fairly complete list for sure. Personally, I do not care for #9 since the candidate is most interested in their fit for the current opening. Asking them where they will be in 5 years usually guarantees a stock answer of management in some form or another. I do agree with one line of advice from that section – “describe…what you hope to have accomplished.” That type of answer will be more revealing that the management answer.

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