Sick Days

Full-time employees are bound to run into sickness now and then. It is inevitable that sick days will occur in the office without our control. What I find particularly interesting is the differences between individuals’ perceptions as to what constitutes a sick day from work. For example, I do not like missing work or school. Therefore, a stomach ache, migraine, or head cold will not stop me from showing up to work or school. However, if my reason for feeling ill is a contagious virus, I will do my coworkers and classmates a favor and stay home and keep my germs to myself. I have always been surprised by the lack of awareness that some employees seem to have of their illness. If you are suffering from the flu and decide to go to work, you are putting your entire work group at risk. Continue Reading →

Communication, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Employees Leaving, Health & Fitness at Work Shortlink

Handling Difficult Coworkers

No matter what job you find yourself in, there will always be people you work with that are difficult. When I think about my previous jobs, I can always remember that one person that either did not perform very highly or had personality differences that clashed with me. Although there have been many instances in which I have almost pulled me hair out in frustration, I have learned to handle these difficult coworkers in the best way possible.

There is not one defining trait that all difficult employees possess. In fact, there are many different personality types and understanding the differences allows us to handle these individuals better. When we understand each other’s personality, we can avoid saying certain things and we learn how best to cope with workplace situations. Continue Reading →

Behavioral Science, Communication, Miscellaneous Shortlink

Are You A Workaholic?

There are employees that work the bare minimum and there are also employees that cannot seem to step away from work.  While it is not a crime to work extra hours, there can be negative consequences such as an increased amount of stress and decreased work-life balance. Researcher Fassel (1992) identified four different categories of employees that are putting forth a bit too much into his or her work.  Could you fall into one of the categories?

The first category is known as binge workers, who work excessively when necessary especially to finish a project.  These workers have intervals of working excessively followed by regular work hours.  Because there are “rest” periods in between binges of work, the employee may not experience significantly negative effects from this pattern of work. Continue Reading →

Behavioral Science, Generations in the Workplace, High Performance, Miscellaneous, Work Environment, Work Life Balance Shortlink

Performance Appraisal Rater Errors

As human beings, we are subject to unintentional errors that we are often unaware of. Performance appraisals are a common area where our human tendencies can appear full force. Because we know that rating errors can occur, what do we do about it? Obviously we cannot change people’s unconscious thoughts and ways of thinking, but what we can do is train raters to be aware of his or her own biases. Once raters are aware of biases to avoid, performance appraisals can be much more accurate. Continue Reading →

Behavioral Science, Education & Training, Employee Engagement, Generations in the Workplace, High Performance, Human Resources, Leadership, Miscellaneous Shortlink

The Cubicle

Kathy wrote a wonderful post on Common Courtesy in Cubicles. In the post, she discussed how our behaviors within tight surroundings of colleagues can be improved to maintain a positive work environment. When we think about offices that are set up in cubical form, what do we think of? Typically, these offices have a lot of employees or a small number of employees and cubicles are an attempt to maximize a limited amount of space. Yes, cubicles do make small spaces into several working environments for employees, but cubicles mean different things to different people.

Imagine you are in an office with a room full of cubicles. Branching off the room are individual rooms used by upper management. Which would you rather have: a small cubicle in the midst of several others or your own office space? Most of us would probably want the separate office. To even the most extroverted employees an office to yourself is very appealing. Add a window view and pretty soon the work environment is anything but annoying. Continue Reading →

Behavioral Science, Communication, Employee Retention, High Performance, Miscellaneous, Work Environment Shortlink

Is There Value in Executive Coaching?

Most companies work to develop existing employees and build employees into managers. When an employee reaches a vital management position, there may be skills the employee still lacks. More and more organizations are utilizing executive coaches to assist new managers or improve existing managers. An executive coach is not an expert in a particular field. A president of a major company will not be able to hire an executive coach that has all the knowledge as to how to run a company. The role of the executive coach is to guide leaders through difficult processes. The coach serves as an unbiased guide to point out aspects of decisions that the leader may not have otherwise considered. Continue Reading →

Communication, Education & Training, Employee Engagement, Generations in the Workplace, High Performance, Human Resources, Leadership, talent management, Time Management, Work Environment Shortlink

Retaining Employees – From an Employee’s Perspective

The latest buzz in the work world is how to keep your best employees working for you, i.e., employee retention. As most of us know, it costs companies beaucoup money to replace good talent. As the “Great Recession” comes to an end, evidenced by more and more jobs opening up, employers are faced with one of their worst nightmares.

Twenty or thirty years ago, loyalty and tenure went a long way in a company and anyone who worked steadily for 10 years or more, was rewarded for their length of service by an increase in pay, promotions, more vacation time, or maybe a gold watch. Then something changed. Continue Reading →

Behavioral Science, Communication, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Employee Surveys, Employees Leaving, Forced Retirement Shortlink

The Impact of Our Commutes to Work


While most of us wish our commute to work was ten minutes or less, the truth of the matter is that is unrealistic. Depending on the city in which you live, you may experience a longer or shorter commute. The average commute for Americans is about thirty minutes or an hour total in a day. With a commute of about an hour every day, there are observed consequences. Our health, mentally and physically is negatively affected by the amount of time most of us are driving to work. There is also the impact on family life that research has not examined as in depth.

A couple of summers ago I interned at a company about forty-five minutes from my apartment given there were no accidents or heavy traffic. I had to be at work at 7:45 a.m., which meant I had to leave my apartment at about 6:50 a.m. in case there was bad traffic on the way. As a female, it takes a bit of time to get ready in the morning and sneak in breakfast, so I was getting up very early. As I mentioned in my night owl post, I am not a morning person. Continue Reading →

Health & Fitness at Work, Job Search, Miscellaneous, Relocation, Women in the Workplace, Work Environment, Work Life Balance Shortlink

Can We Predict Absenteeism?

A common organizational problem that is costly and disruptly is employees not showing up for work. An estimated cost of absenteeism totals $153 billion in lost productivity. Organizations suffer tremendous financial deficits and departments suffer as well. Just a single employee who continuously is absent from work may have a significant impact on his or her subordinates or work team.

One major factor that can predict absenteeism is the health of an employee. Just to give you a feel for the differences between a healthy and unhealthy employee, we will look at average missed days of work. A healthy employee, one that is not overweight and does not suffer from health problems will miss on average about 4 days per year. An unhealthy employee, however, will miss about 3 days of work per month. Continue Reading →

Behavioral Science, Health & Fitness at Work, Human Resources, Miscellaneous Shortlink