Work – Life Balance. As a baby boomer teen born to depression-era parents, I never heard that term once. Didn’t exist back then and, if it had, it would have never come out of my father’s mouth. Hard work was his life, and when he had a day off, he worked. To my dad and…
Every company that employs teens and young adults wrestles with the boundaries of professionalism. How do you get the emerging workforce to set aside, if only temporarily, the supposed “personal right of individual expression” in favor of representing you and your organization without completely zapping them of their enthusiasm, creativity, and energy? Sometimes their personal…
Distracted workers are to employers what distracted drivers are to other motorists — a constant and growing threat. There isn’t a manager on the face of this planet who is willing to share the focused attention of her employees with the screen of a cellular phone. The reality is that employers are being forced to…
In 1989, 56% of the 16- to 19-year-olds in America were actively participating in the workforce. This meant that an employer hiring a young person in the late eighties and early nineties had better than a one-in-two chance that the young person they were considering understood what it meant to hold a job. In 2012,…
Dylan and Charles have been on summer break for three days and have quite a little enterprise brewing. They’re working hard and making money. This morning, I noticed them at the end of my street with a table and chairs set up. Dylan was pouring liquid refreshment and making change. Charles was busy waving down…
Are your seasonal employees going to have a blast this summer? Not away from work; but rather, at work? If not, they’re likely to vaporize before Labor Day. Job seekers are attracted to opportunities where ‘fun’ is included in the job description, so employers use the heck out of it. (Good thing for them the…
