Pssst. Here’s a hint: If you want to be more productive at the office or freelancing at the home office (and the occasional Starbucks), there aren’t earth shattering solutions. Instead, unlocking the secret to productivity involves keeping it real. As in real simple — it encompasses having a life! A rich, robust life full of plentiful breaks, nurturing collaborators, and several perspectives. Read more

Want to get ahead in your career? This sounds like a no brainer, right? Sometimes we may end up self-sabotaging ourselves without even knowing it.

There may be a few misconceptions contributing to being in a job rut. Whether they’re conscious or not, a few contributing factors may keep your career completely stalled instead of moving onward and upward.

As pointed out by Alison Green in her blog post on U.S. News & World Report, one of the factors involves thinking doing your job adequately is enough. She wrote, “Doing a merely adequate job isn’t enough these days. With so many qualified job seekers available for hire, you need to go above and beyond to be seen as valuable.”

If you’re perceived as someone who does the minimum to simply get by instead of going the extra mile, a savvy boss will be able to quickly replace you with someone who goes above and beyond.

In another example, Green remarked on a myth that your work speaks for itself. Reality check: It doesn’t. It’s almost like a tree that falls in a forest; if no one witnesses it, does it really make a sound?

In the post Green wrote, “You could do great work, but if no one knows about it, you might not get the credit you deserve.” Sure, you may have done stellar research on a feature piece or fact checked like it’s nobody’s business but if you don’t toot your own horn, no one else will.

Plus, when other people such as a new editor, let’s say, sends an email thanking you for your hard work on turning around a polished piece ahead of deadline, it’s up to you to send it up the food chain to your managing editor.

Lastly, another misconception revolves around doing great work and letting it stand on its own merit. Well, the work doesn’t speak for itself and neither does its independence. It’s attached to something — check that, someone: You! And of course, your go get ‘em attitude!

Green explained in the piece, “If you complain frequently, regularly shoot down ideas, or act like the office prima donna, your boss probably considers you a pain.” Enough said.

Okay, love is a strong word so how about turning a job you loathe into one you at least lukewarm like?

According to a piece published this morning by Forbes, Nisa Chitakasem, co-author of How to Get the Job You Want, writes that even people who seem to be happy overall go through ruts when they can’t stand their jobs. So yes, it’s going to happen to all of us at one point or another.

There are several ways to tough it out when the going gets rough. Read more

Ever feel like your hard work has gone unnoticed? You’re not alone. Almost half of the full-time employees who responded to an Office Team survey said they would be “somewhat or very likely” to leave their current job if their manager didn’t recognize a job well done.

An independent research firm conducted the study based on telephone interviews with 431 employees in an office environment.

As for the type of recognition that matters most? The Benjamins. People want to be compensated monetarily; 38 percent said they prefer tangible rewards whereas 21 percent prefer opportunities to learn and grow.

On the other hand, 19 percent prefer verbal or written praise and interestingly enough, 20 percent indicated they don’t need any type of acknowledgment for doing a good job.

In addition to the type of recognition people want, the survey also broke down results generationally. Approximately 65 percent of employees between 18 and 34 are more likely than any other age bracket to leave their current position if they feel their hard work is being unrecognized.

According to the press release, Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, stated, “Professionals want to know their contributions make a difference and will be rewarded, especially Gen Y workers. Because individuals like to be acknowledged in different ways, managers should find out what their workers value most and customize recognition accordingly.”

That said, not all recognition is created equal. Some managers may recognize their team but completely miss the point. Let’s take a look at five recognition blunders as pointed out by OfficeTeam:

1. Acknowledging incorrect facts. Whether a person’s name is acknowledged incorrectly or an achievement is miscommunicated, this one definitely lacks effectiveness. Fact check, please!

2. Offering token gestures. Got paperclips? Um, not exactly. Bestowing someone with office supplies for a major accomplishment like a five-year anniversary or promotion will send the message that a major milestone isn’t that major at all.

3. Being vague. Giving someone at pat on the back for a “good job” is simply too generic. The best way to boost morale? Point to specific behaviors so people know what they did right.

4. Going overboard. Sometimes all people need to hear are two succinct words: “Thank you.” Simply giving credit where credit is due can be much more powerful than being over the top.

5. Overlooking contributors. Some people may shy away from attention but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be recognized. OfficeTeam suggests celebrating “unsung heroes” who worked hard behind the scenes.

How’s this for biting the hand that feeds you? Or rather, slapping it in the face instead.

Employees of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will gather outside their office at noon today in the name of a protest against corporate greed! According to the United Media Guild, they’re protesting the bonuses paid to Mary Junck, the CEO, and Carl Schmidt, the CFO. They earned $500,000 and $250,000, respectively.

When Junck and Schmidt received their six-figure bonuses for refinancing the debt of newspaper chain Lee Enterprises, the chain was busy laying off journalists at their papers. Apparently, bonuses were paid the same day layoffs occurred! As such, the Guild says leaders of Lee Enterprises are as out of touch as old-school French Royalty and promises that “all who attend will receive a delicious cupcake” from a union bakery.

Shannon Duffy, business representative of the United Media Guild, the largest union at the Post-Dispatch, asked, “Since when does tanking a company rate a bonus?”

Considering the company’s stock has plummeted from $40 per share in 2005 to over a dollar-a-share today, she pointed out it’s “unbelievable that Lee’s board of directors would reward that kind of performance.”

The Guild’s press release outlined the plan for the protest:

“Speakers will include Duffy, Guild Local President Jeff Gordon, Post-Dispatch retirees and Erica Douglas, daughter of Robert Douglas, a 40-year employee who died one year after having his retiree medical coverage cut off by Lee. Douglas recently returned from attending Lee’s annual shareholder’s meeting in Davenport, Iowa where she read a letter to Lee’s Board of Directors about her father and his life. It was a powerful moment and Douglas has vowed that her father’s death will not be in vain as she continues to speak out about the callous disregard that Lee has for its retirees.”

 

A few days ago we highlighted a study conducted by CareerBliss that identified the 20 happiest jobs in America using 10 factors ranging from boss/co-worker relationships, resources, salary, and environment to corporate culture.

Well, what happens when that’s flipped upside down? Yes, that’s right — the gloom and doom, that pit in the stomach feeling on Sunday night of not looking forward to the upcoming work week.

CareerBliss compiled a list of the 10 unhappiest jobs base on analysis of 100,400 employees. They rated factors that affected workplace happiness such as work environment, job resources, and compensation. Executive level jobs like CEO were excluded from the study.

The unhappiest job in America? Security officer. Matt Miller, chief technology officer at CareerBliss told Forbes,  “Our data shows that growth opportunities and lack of rewards in this field is what affected the overall sentiment around this type of job. Work environment scored relatively high.”

The second and third unhappiest jobs are registered nurse and teacher. These careers seem to be linked to different factors with the same results of being dissatisfied on the job. CareerBliss executive Heidi Golledge explained to Forbes, “Nurses, on the other hand, have more issues with the culture of their workplaces, the people they work with, and the person they work for.  The factors driving the unhappiness tell different stories for these two jobs.”

She added, “CareerBliss has found through our research that teachers appear to be quite happy with their work and their coworkers.  However, the rewards for their work, lack of support, and lack of opportunities to be promoted counteract many of the good parts of the job.”

Other occupations rounding out the top ten included marketing director, maintenance supervisor, product manager and sales engineer. As for the good news? No media-specific jobs were on the unhappiest list. The bad news? No media jobs were on the happiest list either.

The Society for Human Resource Management has written about a telecommuting success story at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.

After instituting a “hoteling” option in 2006, defined as telecommuting at least four days out of the week, with the option to access shared office space if necessary, the agency has found that workers participating in the program work just a bit more and cost a lot less.

Hoteling patent examiners worked an average of 66 hours more per year (or an hour and fifteen minutes extra a week) and processed 4% more patent applications, a government report found, for a $1,000-per-year revenue boost. They also use fewer sick days and save a collective $15 million in real estate costs.

The report found that the USPTO could expect to save $1,710 per teleworking employee in the first year and $3,385 in each subsequent year.

More food for thought when you try to tell your boss you should be working from home.

The clocks spring forward this weekend, so come Monday, you may find yourself a tetch sleep-deprived.

That can lead to more “cyberloafing,” a new study says. Daylight savings time has been shown to steal about 40 minutes of sleep the night following the switch. So psychologists looked at Google searches for the Mondays before, immediately after, and a week after the DST switch.

The researchers found that entertainment-related searches were 3.1 percent more prevalent on the Monday immediately after DST.

A follow-up study used student volunteers who had worn a sleep monitoring bracelet and then were assigned the next day to complete a computer task. Cyberloafing was higher in students who had had less sleep.

Just something to keep in mind this Monday.

Only a third of people who worked for companies employing between 10-100 people had access to a company-sponsored retirement plan. Those small businesses say it’s too expensive, even though nearly four out of five business owners say that such a plan would help them retain higher-quality candidates.

Now, USA TODAY reports, the Senate Special Committee on Aging is considering introducing legislation that would let small businesses pool with other businesses to create a group retirement plan. Financial experts would take on the administrative duties of the plan, saving small businesses time.

Except, small business plans are already available and don’t require a lot of time or effort to manage, and what business owners told the Government Accountability Office was that they wouldn’t offer these plans unless they were sure their business would show a profit multiple years in a row.

So in other words, the government wants to legislate away a problem by finding a completely different solution. Good luck with that one.