And now for a brief follow up to my previous post. From foxnews.com’s business section – Money Might Buy At Least a Little Happiness, Study Shows. A strange survey for sure, but one that illustrates that there is some happiness to having money. That I don’t doubt. But two excerpts from the article are quite fascinating. First:

Does money make you happier? Or does being happier in the first place allow you to earn more money later, maybe by way of greater creativity or energy? Or does some other factor produce both money and happiness? There’s evidence for all three interpretations, Lucas says.

I am partial to his second question in that string as being the most accurate. Whichever one is correct, I greatly enjoyed the closing graph:

“People exaggerate how much happiness is bought by an extra few thousand,” Oswald said. “The quality of relationships has a far bigger effect than quite large rises in salary…. It’s much better advice, if you’re looking for happiness in life, to try to find the right husband or wife rather than trying to double your salary.”

That piece of advice, I know, is absolutely accurate.

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I hope this isn’t a trend – Extreme Jobs Mean Long Hours, Little Sleep — A Lot of Money. The example in the article is a trial lawyer working to make partner (reminds me of John Grisham’s book The Firm). How about this (my emphasis):

A new study in the upcoming issue of the Harvard Business Review estimates that 1.7 million Americans now hold extreme jobs. The study defined “extreme” as any job that requires more than 60 work hours per week and fits various parameters regarding work flow, travel, responsibilities away from the office and outside commitments.

A further description of Mr Shontz (the trial lawyer):

Shontz is almost never home for dinner with his wife and three children, and even breakfast at home is a rare occurrence.

If it works for him, more power to him. I just can’t imagine any line of work being more valuable than time with your family.

According to the Harvard study, 52 percent of the nation’s top income earners those in the top 6 percent of earners and often making six-figure salaries work more than 70 hours a week. And 48 percent say they are working 16 hours a week more than they did just five years ago.

Ok, maybe it is a trend and a bad one at that. The article concludes with my initial thought to this work/life imbalance (my emphasis):

The potential for burnout on these jobs is also extreme. The Harvard study revealed the dark side of working such punishing hours. High percentages of the high performers in the study said the crazy schedule took a huge toll on their family lives and even their health particularly because of a lack of sleep.

I have no empirical data to support this statement, but I suspect this extreme work schedule will not carry through to the younger generations. They seem to have a distinct drive to find a work/life balance that differs greatly from the “high performers” in this study.

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A quick story from the Pioneer Press – Early exit cuts Stroucken pay package. The departing CEO of H.B. Fuller located north of St. Paul is taking a compensation package with him worth $18.5 million. The article simply states:

The news release noted Stroucken is receiving $4 million less than he would have had if he had stayed through the March 31, 2007, the end of his contract.

There is something you don’t see too often in today’s world – a CEO who could have made much more had he completed his contract that ends in 6 months. Obviously, he is leaving with a lucrative compensation package, but here is why:

“The value of the options and stock are largely due to what Al did while he was here,” said Steven Brazones, director of investor relations for H.B. Fuller. “His compensation is tied to how the company performs.”Stroucken, 59, joined Fuller in 1998 and led the company through a series of acquisitions. The company’s improving financial performance showed up in the stock price, which is up more than 80 percent since early 2005.

80%! Think of the shareholder value that has been created during his tenure as CEO. I bring this up because we have worked with this company in the past and it is an impressive organization.

This CEO helped grow the company and received a sizable reward for it. With all of the Enron heartburn that still exists, it is refreshing to read a story about a CEO who brought great value to his company and didn’t milk it for every last cent.

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This story should probably be categorized as an anecdote – When Corporate Culture Shows Up on YouTube. The title alone is intriguing. Here is the tease:

Still, when the card-services division held a conference over the summer, organizers asked employees Ethan Chandler and Jim DeBois to write a song for the event. Basing it on U2′s smoldering ballad, “One,” the B of A employees rewrote the lyrics of the Irish rock band’s song and renamed it “One Bank.”

We here at The Hire Sense make it our duty to keep you informed of such items so here is the actual video via YouTube. I cringed all the way through it – think of it as bankers gone really wrong (with awful lyrics). I can’t imagine sitting in the audience at this training session without losing it.

One more example from the entertaining article:

When Steve Santagati worked at a TV company, he watched one colleague paste sticky notes with lyrics onto the microphone stand. The man also began gyrating and, mostly bald, he ran his fingers through his nonhair. “We’re hoping and praying they’re kidding,” says Mr. Santagati of collegial crooners, “and then there’s that moment when you realize they really think they’re like this — a sexy rock star.”

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More from the work-life front of management: Flexibility with holiday schedules can boost worker loyalty. Absolutely true. I know, many people will comment about the abusers of such flexibility. You know, if they are abusers, they are currently applying their trade to some other area of your business. Best not to punish the upright workers due to the deceivers.

Here is a good reminder for managers any time of the year:

First, an owner needs to have the attitude that a worker’s personal life matters, even if the staff is small and there’s plenty of work to be done.

So true of the younger generations no matter what the season.

“If you have that employee sitting there from 3 to 4:30 knowing the play is on and you didn’t allow them to go there, they’re going to be anti-productive,” he said. “But if you let them go, they’ll feel much better about working for the company, and they’ll probably make up more than that hour and a half that they missed.”

And one last point that may get lost as people move up into more powerful roles within the company:

“All these ideas are a function of everything that I really hated when I was working for other people, especially in the corporate arena,” Bisson said. She said she could recall all the holiday tasks she couldn’t get done when she was an employee, and said her goal is to help reduce employee stress.

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In what can only be called a sign of the times, “Cyber Monday” has arrived today. If you are not aware of its meaning, it is the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Apparently, today is a significant online retail day as many people look for bargains in cyberspace as they head back to work.

In light of Cyber Monday, I offer up a real distraction for techno geeks like myself – Popular Science’s What’s New for gadgets this Christmas season. I ended up on their site after reading a short article from the Pioneer Press website.

Warning: This site can be a real time waster.

Now that you have been warned, click through to image #6 and you will see a USB turntable for your old vinyl LPs so you can digitize them for your MP3 player. Talk about “classic contemporary.”

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It sure feels like a holiday already, but we at The Hire Sense march on today. We’ll keep things light before the long holiday weekend. Google kicked up this fun article from a CareerBuilder.com editor titled The 10 worst things to do in a meeting.

Here’s a good tease:

Who among us hasn’t cringed as the office windbag launched into a self-aggrandizing discourse that was completely off-point? Pitied a meek co-worker who got trounced by the office bully? Or marveled at a colleagues’ ability to string together an array of buzzwords that mean absolutely nothing?

Oh, I have been in many of those meetings.

A couple of my favorite items from the list:

7. Chew Gum. The smacking, popping, cracking and cow-like chewing are annoying. Plus, it’s rude and unprofessional. ‘Nuff said.9. Wander Off Topic. Don’t hijack the agenda. Stay focused on what you and your team are trying to accomplish. If you must digress into unrelated areas, make sure it’s alright with the others present. A good way to handle important issues not related to the topic at hand is to record them on a flipchart and revisit them at an appropriate time.

Any of you salespeople or managers out there who have sat through software development meetings can probably relate to number 9. It is uncanny how the software guys can run a tangential discussion in a topic-specific meeting.

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A new trend from BusinessWeek.com – Napping Your Way to the Top. I laughed out loud when I read this article. Full disclosure – I hate naps. I never take them no matter how tired I am. Hence the reference to Longfellow in title of this post.

From the article:

Without sleep you don’t learn. My research shows that people deteriorate during the day. It’s difficult to sustain productivity. Naps can add back to the sleep you’re deprived of at night. And a nap enhances productivity even if you have enough nocturnal sleep.

I still remember the business owner I worked for in my first outside sales position. He was a great guy and a patient man when it came to training me. However, he was a bit eccentric. The first day I went out on a sales call with him, we went out to lunch and then arrived at the prospect’s office 20 minutes early. This business owner pulls into the parking lot, turns the car off and reclines his seat. He then told me that he needed to take his power nap and closed his eyes. I just sat there looking out the window for 20 minutes. He then woke up and into the call we went.

The author of this article mentions a similar approach:

I’ll also nap in the car. If I have a meeting, I’ll get there 15 minutes early and set my cell phone alarm to wake me up.

I never thought I would read that in a BusinessWeek article.

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A friend of mine is an established, successful salesperson who is looking for a new opportunity. He recently received an offer from a large corporation that had a 6 or 7 page commission document. The document looked like a court filing. After sifting through as much as we could tolerate, we came across this gem:

All newly hired participants will receive a quota for incentive purposes on or before the 30th day of their territory assignment and no later than the 90th day of their territory assignment.

So, for sure before the 30th day. Unless it is no later than the 90th day. Obviously, it cannot be “on or before” while simultaneously being “no later than.”

This commission plan is a good example of why it is important to keep them relatively simple. Few things turn off a good salesperson faster than a suspiciously-worded commission document. Keep it simple and always walk a candidate through an example of how the commission plan works. If you leave it up to them to sort it out, you may just lose the strong candidate.

BTW, my friend turned down the offer.

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The justsell.com guys reference an interesting study that came out last month regarding the Millennial generation (born between 1979 and 2001). I know, I doubt they received much input from the 5 year olds. Anyway, the study indicates some distinct trends amongst the generation just out of college.

Moreover, the poll finds that as Millennials begin to enter the workforce, they not only have high expectations for themselves, but also for their employers. Nearly eight out of ten want to work for a company that cares about how it contributes to society, while more than half would refuse to work for an irresponsible corporation.

Certainly the Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom scandals have had an impact on these young, idealistic people. It appears that only 28% of the respondents are full-time employees today, but obviously that number will grow.

Millennials Have High Expectations of their Employers (of the 28% who describe themselves as full-time employees.)

• 79% want to work for a company that cares about how it impacts and contributes to society.
• 69 % are aware of their employer’s commitment to social/environmental causes.
• 64% say their company’s social/environmental activities make them feel loyal to that company.
• 56% would refuse to work for an irresponsible corporation.

If you are hiring young workers or recent college grads, you should consider these statistics in your messaging.

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