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I had never heard of “presenteeism” up until a couple of months ago as I mentioned in this post. Now I encountered this SM&M article – Working While Sick.

Top reasons for schlepping in when sick: I feel guilty for calling in; my workload is too heavy; I save my sick time for personal reasons like family emergencies, sick children, parent care issues and other unexpected events; and I try to have perfect attendance.

“Schlepping in…?” Another new phrase for me. No real surprises in the reasons for coming to work sick. I did find this paragraph insightful:

The study suggests bosses could do more to stem the trend. “Employees are craving flexibility from their employers. ‘Working 9 to 5′ is no longer the universal employee anthem,” says Stuart Itkin, chief marketing officer at Kronos. “To reduce presenteeism, bolster employee satisfaction, improve workforce productivity, and boost the bottom line, best practice organizations are providing employees with flexibility and rewarding them based on results.”

This trend is booming in the corporate world. We see it daily in our customer base and we hear inquiries from candidates on a consistent basis. Flexible hours will be a staple of the Gen Y work world.

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Today we tackle a tough trait that is in short supply according to Mark Twain. The Using Common Sense trait provides for us some insight into a salesperson’s ability to think on their feet. This trait is most important for effectively dealing with a prospect’s objections.

Using Common Sense
This capacity is determined by the persons focus on practical thinking, their ability to see the world clearly and their general intelligence.

A salesperson with strength in this capacity will have use of everyday, informal knowledge that has not been formally evaluated and placed in the decision-making process. The utilization of common sense in the decision-making process appears to be more of a natural reflex than a logical-thinking process.

A salesperson with weakness in this capacity might be encouraged to use solid record keeping, organizational skills and other tools to aid them in obtaining a better, more objective decision.

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Bob Rosner has a great riff on security at airports in his Working Wounded blog – Biz Travel Safety. To be clear, he is all for safe airline travel and even goes so far as to thank the screeners when he gets plucked from the line for an additional screening. I laughed at that line since I am invariably plucked from the line no matter what airport I am at (my wife laughs every time).

An excerpt:

For example, on my most recent flight I had my baggie full of gels and liquids out and ready to show anyone who wanted to know the secret for my youthful appearance. A TSA staffer scrutinized the bag. She informed me that she’d have to empty one of my bottles because, she explained, they only allowed gels and liquids in their original containers no camping-style plain plastic bottles are allowed. She methodically emptied out my soap from its container. Apparently terrorists have not figured out how to empty shampoo bottles to put something more dangerous inside.

Read the whole thing – it is quite entertaining.

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Sales & Marketing Management offers this quick article – Avoiding Accountability Talks. First, the context of the article is the reluctance of employees (and managers) to engage in holding other employee’s accountable. A couple of survey stats:

• 50 percent say they are afraid of negative outcomes.
• 16 percent say they don’t know how to start, hold or finish such a conversation.

Sales managers take note – this activity is one of the most important components to effective sales management. We encounter this reluctance often. Salespeople need to be held accountable to their activities, their behaviors and ultimately, their results. You don’t even have to be good at it. But you do have to do it.

The first step is to stop allowing excuses. Something will always go wrong when selling. The best salespeople handle the problems while moving forward with their selling process. Don’t allow the weaker salespeople to use excuses to explain poor performance.

Once salespeople understand the old excuses are not going to work, you can then start to hold them accountable for their calls, prospects, qualifying, everything. This slight change by the sales manager will have a fundamental effect on the entire sales culture.

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Let’s keep this ad riff going. From another sales ad (I removed the city name from the ad):

About this Career Opportunity:
We are currently seeking an experienced Sales Professional to work at our showroom store location in the TH-CitySSP to help accelerate our growth further!

A large company posted this ad and they serve the B2C (business-to-consumer) market. I am guessing from the frequency of their ads that they have consistently high turnover.

However, when I read such obvious boilerplate ads, I get the impression that this company’s culture is mechanistic. Might not be fair, but impressions are the subjective interpretation of the person. The poorly-spaced, strangely-coded city field immediately makes me think they are sourcing often and everywhere. Had they taken the time to check the formatting of their ad, I would probably assume they have a people orientation to their culture (the rest of the ad is well-written).

I realize their are applicant tracking systems and tools for handling responses, but I would not recommend technological automation at the expense of human impression. Check your ads and read them as if you were a candidate.

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We posted about typos in resumes back in September and mentioned a significant survey result:

Eighty-four percent of executives polled said it takes just one or two typographical errors in a resume to remove a candidate from consideration for a job opening; 47 percent said a single typo could be the deciding factor.

Time to turn the tables on these executives. I just read a sales ad from a sizeable company that had this typo in the description:

…seeking an outstanding individual for Territory Account Manger

Perhaps Christmas is still on their mind, but this error leaps from the page. Obviously from the survey mentioned above, typos on resumes are potential deal-breakers. What does it say about the company when they post an ad that contains a typo? My initial impression is that the company lacks an attention to detail in their work. If candidates are expected to be perfect in their proofreading, I would argue the same standard should be applied to hiring companies.

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Google and work-life balance – this story may make you sick with envy. In case you haven’t heard, Google was ranked as the best company to work for in the US. The aforementioned link is a slide show that reveals what the culture of Google. All I can say is amazing.

Just to give you a partial idea of the Google campus:

Google takes the work-life balance to a new level. A Googler who’s pressed for time can get plenty of errands done while at work. Employees can do laundry for free in company washers and dryers (free detergent too) or drop off dry cleaning.Among Google’s many other conveniences offered to its employees: a workout room with weights and rowing machine, locker rooms, a massage room, child care, onsite notaries, car services and five onsite doctors available for employee checkups, free of charge.

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I don’t think this foxnews.com story needs much analysis – Business Owners Confess to Checking E-mail While Driving, Using Bathroom.

The survey suggests that entrepreneurs cope with the lack of time by working whenever and wherever they can. Forty-nine percent of respondents said they make business calls and check while driving, and 18 percent admit they read work-related e-mail and documents while in the bathroom.

I think this survey redefines the definition of work-life imbalance.

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We released a new article today titled Finding Sales Candidates with the RIGHT Talent. “Talent” is a hot buzzword right now and since we measure it, we thought it would helpful to share some of our findings.

Suffice to say, most hiring managers believe it is best to hire the candidate with the most overall talent. While this approach is certainly better than hiring someone with little talent, there are still pitfalls to avoid. As you have probably ascertained from the article’s title, we target candidates with the right talent for the position’s requirements.

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