With the summer sunshine heating up, here are some cool articles we wanted to share in this week’s In case you missed it (ICYMI) blog. Here’s our recap of this week’s trending topics on workforce trends, learning development and human resources. Grab a cold drink, find a spot of shade and enjoy!
Overwhelmed at work? Who isn’t!
Whether you are an intern or a CEO, all of us have moments where we feel overwhelmed at work. You get back from lunch and you there are 100 emails that claim to be urgent, your boss has a question that you need to answer now, and the project you thought was due next week is suddenly due today. Don’t panic. A recent study conducted by Zenger Folkman found that approximately a quarter of the overall workforce describe themselves as overwhelmed.
After analyzing the results, Jack Zenger discovered the three distinct elements why people feel overwhelmed at work are
- The workload
- Personal resilience in the face of multiple tasks
- How rapidly the person functions
Zenger commended on the research in an article in Forbes this week titled, “Can Working Faster Reduce Stress?” Zenger notes, by being aware of how you work can help you find ways to not getting bogged down in activities that don’t yield real value. It He finds that when individuals focus their effort on the right activities, their pace increases, and by doing so they actually feel far less overwhelmed.
Read the full article to learn about where workforce pressure is felt most and what might be done to alleviate it.
Overworked title missing Gender inequality
As Gloria Steinem, from Goodreads.com said, “Women are always saying, ‘We can do anything that men can do.’” But Men should be saying, “We can do anything that women can do.” In a yet-to-be published paper from Harvard’s Gender Initiative program, organizations focusing on women’s issues are in denial about their real problem: a culture of unnecessary, 24/7 work that makes everyone miserable.
The Harvard report interviewed 107 consultants and five human resource staffers at an unnamed consulting firm, and found everyone was suffering under the expectation to work long hours, but were viewed in a different light based on their gender. “People here are probably doing 14, 15 hours of work a day,” one consultant said in the paper.
Because it was assumed that women want to spend more time with family, the researchers found that the firm’s senior female partners were criticized in the interviews as bad mothers. Male partners’ roles as fathers did not come up for criticism in the same way.
Read the full article, “Focusing On Women’s Advancement Blinds Companies To Their Real Problem: Overworking Everyone” from The Huffington Post for the complete findings of the study.
Watch out, that perk is really a trap!
You are over the moon! You found the perfect job in the perfect location and the benefits couldn’t be better. Or are they? Most professionals want an employee benefit plan that includes things like health insurance, sick leave, 401K plans and professional development. Although free food and dry cleaning are nice to have, make sure your potential employer is offering the essentials first. And, are they really as great as they seem or are they just “great on paper”?
Yes, exciting perks may be enticing but the employee benefit plan must align with your priorities. If the perks seem too good to be true, they may not be as valuable as you think. Marli Guzzetta, interviewed a handful of HR influencers and analysts about perks that too good to be beneficial in an Inc. article titled “5 Work Perks That Are Also Traps.” Examples include more vacation time instead of pay, whole self workplaces, booze in the office, casual summer Fridays and the freedom to try new things. William Tincup, Susan LaMotte and Maren Hogan offer some great advice on what these perks really mean.
Remember, sometimes it is not enough to be offered the job. Ultimately your final decision should rest on your full evaluation of the company and position – not just the perks!