According to a Workforce Management article the buzz at the SHRM conference inolved rising gas prices and the wide-ranging effects it is having. In fact, the conference’s opening press event highlighted its recent poll showing how companies are trying to assist their workers. The two most noted solutions were flexible schedules and telecommuting. Some of the other ways they are helping are four-day weeks, gas cards and car-pooling. John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas made a great comment (my bold): These are more than short-term fixes, Challenger says. They are the beginning of a revolution in the office that will result in productivity being the central value of work, rather the… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Commute Question
We are sales recruiters so we have been fairly immune to this question, but it is even appearing in our world. For salespeople, the question is some variation of “How often will I be expected to be in the office?” This question doesn’t mean they are planning on playing hooky; the candidate simply wants to start the discussion about working from home, their car, coffee shops, etc. The Career News newsletter (sorry, no link) offers up a quick article on this topic: When it comes to making a living, how many miles would you travel? According to many hiring agencies and recruiters, people job hunting are taking climbing gas prices… Read More
Continue ReadingA Common Sales Ad Spec
Here is a bullet point from a sales employment ad: Home based office experience a major plus! Can you imagine reading that point just 5 years ago?
Continue ReadingWhat Is A Flexible Work Strategy?
Apparently the answer to that question depends upon whom you ask. From an older RecruitingTrends.com article: Furthermore, executives’ innate understanding of what defines flexible work strategies varies. While the largest percentage (45%) define it as pertaining to time, 31% view it as something to do with an employee’s location, and another 23% see flexible work arrangements as something other than time or location. I would fall in the “Flexible location” group in terms of defining it. It would appear that this relatively new phrase requires a better definition. Or perhaps all new phrases and terms begin with some ambiguity.
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Is Old School, Nomadism Is New School
The modern workplace is shifting towards a more ad hoc approach vs. a scheduled interaction according this The Economist’s excellent article Labour movement. This article defines nomadism in the current work world: Today’s work nomadism descends from, but otherwise bears little resemblance to, the older model of “telecommuting”, says Mr Ware. That earlier concept became popular in the 1990s thanks to cheap but stationary telecommunications technologies—the landline phone, the fax and dial-up internet. Because it still tied workers to a place—the home office—telecommuting implicitly had people “cocooning at home five days a week”, he says. But people do not want that: instead, they want to mingle with others and to… Read More
Continue ReadingA Reason To Web Commute
Is there a better anecdotal piece of information to support web commuting – $5.20 per gallon gas: Five dollars and 20 cents for a gallon of gas. The number says a lot. Yes, it may be the most expensive gas in America. But $5.20 doesn’t begin to explain essence — the rich, off-beat, some might say, eccentric, essence of Gorda, Calif.
Continue ReadingManic First Monday
I got to start my first Monday of the new year without my laptop. It died over the weekend so I come to you via a desktop system that is not my “home.” It is a strange feeling being on another system. It seems like there should be a resolution in here somewhere. In that light, BusinessWeek.com went to the streets looking for input from managers. The survey was literally conducted walking the streets of Boston so keep that in mind. Two items were the winner: Managers want to find a better work/life balance. As you saw in the video, one person is working 16 hour days. So much for… Read More
Continue ReadingWork/Life Balance Has Reached Executives
BusinessWeek.com offers up a good summation of today’s hiring market in terms of executive recruitment. We could have wrote this article – it describes exactly what we are encountering in a couple of executive searches. Let’s unpack a couple points from the article: This new environment requires that executive headhunters and companies’ human resources and business leaders delve deeper into what’s really important to senior-management candidates and calibrate the recruitment process accordingly. Very true. Part of this understanding comes from assessing their motivations and rewards, the other part from interaction. Yesterday I posted on the need for flexibility when hiring since candidates desire work/life balance far more than in previous… Read More
Continue Reading5th Annual National Work And Family Month
The US Senate designated October as National Work and Family Month back in 2003 in hopes that it would engage employers into sponsoring work/life programs for their employees. We’ve posted about this topic before, but as more and more Gen X & Y’ers fill the roles of the retiring Baby Boomers, this subject will require attention by everyone who plans on hiring. Gen X & Y’ers consider work/life balance a very important topic, often reporting it as important as money. As we posted earlier this year, a survey of recruiters showed that 85% of them have seen candidates reject a job offer because it was misaligned with their work-life balance.… Read More
Continue ReadingSurvive The Drive – Telecommute
It seems these articles about the worst commutes come out every month. This month Forbes.com offers up The Most Unhealthy Commutes in America. First, the top 5 (with 2 California cities – no surprise): The Top 5 Most Unhealthy Commutes1. Riverside, Calif.2. Atlanta, GA3. Los Angeles, CA4. (tie) Houston, TX4. (tie) Washington, D.C. Then you get this interesting piece of data (emphasis mine): Not only do commuters in Southern California inhale the worst year-round particle pollution levels, but Riverside drivers also face the highest rate of fatal auto accidents per capita, and Los Angeles drivers spend the most time sitting in traffic. In 2003, the annual delay per traveler there was… Read More
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